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Creatures that are often times so elusive that there is no physical proof of their existence, and has lead most people to believe that they don't exist at all. Now despite the fact that there is actually no proof that any cryptids exist, there are certain things that I have noticed about them, and have narrowed down to five things. So here are five things I've noticed about cryptids: 5. They are masters at Hide & Go Seek. If a cryptid was to ever enter a hide & go seek contest, they would probably win it, because they are masters at hiding. Despite the fact that many of the areas of the world where various cryptids are known to live are actually very well explored, no one can actually seem to capture a living or dead cryptid. A couple of good examples of this would be the search for the Loch Ness Monster and the search for Bigfoot. Despite the fact that there have been multiple explorations of where Bigfoot is suppose to live (which is apparently everywhere now) or the use of motion sensor triggered trail cameras where they are suppose to roam, no one has ever been able to produce any solid proof that Bigfoot exists, other then a few grainy photos taken by people whom weren't even looking for the creature and could easily be something else entirely, and some photos and videos and footprints that are clear, but have either been found out to be hoaxes, or are strongly suspected of being hoaxes. As for the Loch Ness Monster, that creature is so good at hiding scientists couldn't even find it after all of Loch Ness was scanned with sonar devices. 4. They're big business Cryptids have made people a lot of money. There have been many popular TV shows dedicated to finding cryptids, or has a cryptid as one of the characters. There have also been multiple products that feature cryptids as well (including shirts and toys). You can even pay people to take you on expeditions into these places where these cryptids are suppose to inhabit, and the sites where some of these creatures are suppose to live (such as Loch Ness) have become huge tourist attractions, attracting thousands of wannabe monster hunters every year hoping to catch a glimpse of one of these elusive creatures. Of course lets not forget the millions of dollars spent on high tech equipment to try to find these alleged creatures. Plus, who here can honestly say that the creation of the Star Wars character Chewbacca wasn't in some ways inspired by the descriptions of Bigfoot. 3. They don't seem to interact with each other. Out of all the claimed sightings I have heard about varies cryptids, the one thing I have never heard is one cryptid interacting with another cryptid. This could be a result of the alleged rarity of these creatures that there are simply not enough of them to actually interact with each other (other than a cryptid of their own species, which is also something that is never seen), or they're just scared of each other and avoid each other (which many known animals actually do). Of course it could be because people so rarely see a cryptid (and it's usually from a distance, and it's not very clear) that it could be that no one has ever had the opportunity to see a cryptid interacting with another cryptid. It's not like people see Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster everyday, so it shouldn't be surprising that no one has ever seen Bigfoot riding on top of the Loch Ness Monster either. 2. There are multiple explanations for them. While a few cryptids will have one explanation for it's existence, most of them have multiple explanations. The two most common explanations for a cryptids existence is that they are either an unknown animal that has simply yet to be discovered, or, as many scientists believe, the misidentification of a known animal (other than those that are out right hoaxes). Other explanations are that some could be a prehistoric creature that survived extinction (as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster are sometimes claimed to be) or that they could be aliens (as the Mothman and Chupacabra are sometimes claimed to be) or that they're some kind of spirit like creatures (as the Jersey Devil is sometimes claimed to be). Regardless of how many logically (and not so logical) explanations there are for a cryptid, there is one true thing that all cryptids have in common... 1. They probably don't exist. Despite the numerous explorations of areas where the creatures mentioned above (along with many others) have been done in an attempt to find these creatures, no one has ever been able to capture one, or bring back any physical proof that these creatures exist at all. These facts, combined with the logical explanations for the sightings of these creatures (including misidentification of a known animal, and intentionally created hoaxes) has lead many scientists to concluded that most, if not all, probably don't exist, or they just don't exist at all. Or course I (and many scientists) say they probably don't exist rather than saying that they don't exist at all in most cases because there is a remote possibly (and very remote at that. Basically being on the same level as proving the existence of ghosts, or proving that aliens have been coming to Earth) that a few of them could exist. Because of this remote possibly that some of these creatures could exist, and the occasional eye witness sighting from someone who doesn't appear to be making their claim up, it keeps people looking for them and wasting their time and money trying to find something that odds are doesn't exist. But still, much like with UFO hunting and ghost hunting, cryptid hunting can be fun, and can lead you to go to all these interesting places and lead people to learn more about history and nature, and maybe even real science along the way.

The driving force behind WCPI is our commitment to help those who are experiencing, or have experienced, strange activity or sightings to understand what is happening, be it normal or paranormal. WCPI’s mandate to investigate the paranormal includes hauntings, UFO sightings, cryptid sightings and anything else that fits into the realm of the paranormal. If you have had or are having such an experience, or are merely interested in who we are and what we do, please feel free to browse our website. As our name indicates, Wellington County Paranormal Investigators, (WCPI), has been established to investigate/research reports of paranormal activity. To do this we utilize the “True Scientific Method”, whereby we conduct open-minded investigations that look first to explain all captured phenomena in a scientific manner. Where all natural explanations have been ruled out, we then look towards the paranormal for possible explanations. Our blended approach of utilizing both scientific and spiritual measures ensures that we provide complete assistance to those who seek our help. WCPI believes in and diligently practices client confidentiality. We will never release or publish names, addresses or contact information of people who seek our services, unless we have the client’s written permission to do so or unless the place/person(s) have already publicized the events. We will not investigate a location unless we have permission from the proper authorities to do so. We will never break the law in order to pursue an investigation, and we will always put the safety, security and privacy of our clients first. All WCPI Lead Investigators have successfully passed a Police Criminal Background check either as part of their regular employment or as a prerequisite of WCPI. Police Criminal Background checks are renewed annually. Although we are called Wellington County Paranormal Investigators, our investigations are not restricted to this geographical location.

Battle is a feature in the Legend of the Cryptids where players engage in combat with other players using their cryptid cards. Players may battle for various incentives such as other players’ Treasure or Coins. Players may also battle simply to improve their Battle Record for the sake of it. Players which initiate a battle are on offense, and utilize their cryptids’ total attack rating. Players being attacked are on defense, and utilize their cryptids’ total defense rating. Unlike attacking, defending against an attack is an automatic process which is done independent of players. The winner of a battle is decided based on the total attack of the player on offense, and the total defense of a defending player. Whoever has a higher value wins the battle. The attack and defense rating of players is decided based on the attack or defense rating of a player’s front line cards, as well as additional cards in the back line. The front line is composed of up to five cards which are usually the cards with the highest attack or defense. Cards in the front line are given priority to participate in a battle over other cards in a player’s deck. There are two front lines: the Attack Front Line and the Defense Front Line. Attack Front Line These cards are the primary offensive unit when engaging in battle. Cards with a high attack attribute are often selected for this front line. Defense Front Line These cards are the primary defensive unit when defending against other players. Cards with a high defense attribute are often selected for this line. The default recommended front line is automatically assembled by the game based on the best cards suited for offense or defense, depending on the line, with the goal of having as high an overall attack or defense as possible. A player may also choose to create their own front line. When cards participate in a battle, they require a certain amount of power from the player in order to be utilized. Cards used in offense require attack power, and cards on defense require defense power. An individual card’s power rating decides how much is needed in battle. If a player does not have enough current power, the attack or defense of cryptids in the front line automatically scales down, depending on how much power is available. If a player’s attack or defense power is too low, cryptids in the front line may be excluded from battle all together. The weakest cryptids are usually excluded when this happens. If there is extra power left after the front line uses up its required amount of power, the remaining amount is automatically utilized by the game to bring in additional cryptids from a player’s deck as back line support. The strongest cards are usually chosen automatically by the game to be part of the back line, depending on how much power is left. Cards which participate as part of a back line have their attack or defense capped at 80% of their value. Skills cannot be activated by any of the backline cards when attacking.

The scattered thoughts of short story writer Sandra Seamans Tuesday, December 2, 2014 Great Old Ones Publishing - Anthology Call Great Old Ones Publishing has post an anthology call for "From the Corner of Your Eye: A Cryptids Anthology". Crypitids are creatures such as Big Foot or the Jersey Devil. They're looking for stories of 3000 to 8000 words featuring one of these monsters and they've provided a link to a list of these creatures. The anthology will include only one story for each Cryptid. The deadline is January 31, 2015 and payment is $25. You can find all the details here.

Sephiroth was invited to stay for lunch - as Barret had promised, Tifa's chowder was worth waiting for - and after that the Dolphin's bar staff started to arrive downstairs to begin their prep work. "All right, I'm off," Tifa announced, slinging a black duffel bag over her shoulder. "Marcus is in charge downstairs, but if there's any trouble, call me." Sephiroth looked between Tifa and Cloud, faintly mystified. His lap had been thoroughly colonized by Marlene and Denzel, but if Tifa was leaving then surely his welcome had run out. "Why..." escaped him, and he clamped down on the rest of the question with a flare of embarrassment as Tifa turned his way. "...am I leaving the bar just as it's getting ready to open?" she guessed. "...forgive me. I don't know anything about running a bar." Sephiroth directed the apology to his knees, despite Marlene and Denzel sitting on them casting him worried looks. Tifa rolled her eyes cheerfully. "Neither does Cloud, which is why my shift supervisor's in charge. He's just here in case of emergencies." "I'm the bouncer," Cloud agreed as Sephiroth blinked in befuddlement. "And sometimes the dish boy." "-and I've somehow been talked into teaching a martial arts class to teenagers and Saturday afternoon's the only time that works with their school schedules and all." Tifa tilted her head a fraction at him. "Okay?" Okay? Is she asking my permission? "...okay," he repeated tentatively, and that appeared to be the right answer, because Tifa actually smiled. As she headed downstairs, calling for Marcus, Reeve stood and stretched. "I should head out too," he informed them. "I'll call with an update tomorrow sometime." Sephiroth drew in a breath. "I'll follow you out," he said, trying not to make it sound like an announcement or a command. "Gleipnir must be going spare waiting for me," he added, hoping the mention of his inoffensive fluffball of a chocobo would soften his words. It seemed to work - he got a grin from Barret and a muffled chortle from Cloud, and even the children wriggled off his lap with a minimum of reluctance. "You wanna come over for lunch again tomorrow?" Denzel asked, squeezing his hand hopefully. "We'll see." I hadn't intended to come over for lunch this time. Tifa let them out the back door, calling a few last-minute instructions to the supervisor over her shoulder. Her path took her closer to the city's inner ring, the opposite direction from the airship dock, so she left them with a casual wave and an unreadable look Sephiroth's way. Sephiroth chose to interpret it as a warning; it seemed safest. "You know, there are caretakers at the dock stables," Reeve brought up thoughtfully as Tifa turned a corner and was lost to sight. "I want to take care of my chocobo," Sephiroth answered flatly, and Reeve lifted his eyebrows but let it drop. He did not, however, allow Sephiroth to walk a block behind him as he'd planned. Despite Sephiroth's best efforts to let Reeve pull ahead without either man having to mention it, Reeve wouldn't quit matching his stride, and even met Sephiroth's frustrated look with another mild eyebrow-lift. "We should walk together," Reeve explained reasonably. "It will reinforce the message that you're our ally." "Also, not insane or murderous," Sephiroth pointed out, and Reeve's face briefly creased in unwilling agreement. "Reeve, I don't really understand your purpose. I went to a great deal of trouble this morning to keep people from making a connection between myself and Tifa's bar. The last thing I want is for her or Cloud or the children to become targets because of me, yet you seem bent on doing exactly that." Reeve paused, peering at him until Sephiroth itched with the urge to avert his gaze. "...you really are worried about them," he mused. "And you're not?" "No - well, yes, but I think you're looking at this the wrong way." Reeve started walking again, and Sephiroth had no choice but to keep up if he wanted to hear the Director's explanation. "Most people don't know the details of what happened five years ago, but they know that Cloud and Tifa were instrumental in saving the world. They're internationally famous - they're going to be the targets of attention for the rest of their lives." "All the more reason they shouldn't be associated with me!" Sephiroth argued. "All the more reason," Reeve corrected gently, "that you should not be hidden away." He paused, letting Sephiroth marinate in agitated silence. "I'm sure you know by now that your part in the events of five years ago-" "I wish you'd just say Meteor." Reeve pulled a frown. "Fine. Your part in the Meteor event is less common knowledge than Cloud's and Tifa's. Most know you were involved, but..." His shoulders lifted in a brief shrug. "The Silver General had ardent fans and virulent detractors, as I'm sure you recall. What people believe is largely reflective of their pre-Meteor attitudes toward Shinra." "And you simply... let them believe what they wish, rather than telling the whole truth?" "Sephiroth," and Reeve held up a hand that was stiff with impatience, "the fact that we are holding a civil conversation right now is proof that none of us knew the whole truth. You returned from death sane and remorseful, when all of us thought you either irrevocably mad or irredeemably evil. If we had let the full scope of what you had done be commonly known, you would have no allies on the planet now." The snap in Reeve's dark eyes told Sephiroth what Reeve wasn't saying: I have not forgiven you. This time Sephiroth really did look away, wondering only now how many of Reeve's direct subordinates had died on his sword. Unbidden the image of uniforms swam before his eyes, from the familiar blue and red of the Shinra military to the sharply-tailored suits of the civilian employees- -flash, white stained with red- He must have staggered. Reeve had hold of his arm, and Sephiroth made sure he knew where the ground was before pulling away. "...my apologies," he forced out, as stiff and awkward as he felt. "Does that happen a lot?" Reeve asked, his vehemence of a moment ago tucked away again like a weapon he didn't need. "Was it a dizzy spell?" "An artifact of having been dead, I think. It's fine." Sephiroth started walking again, hands jammed in his pockets and shoulders hunched, and only realized he was outpacing the Director after an entire block blurred by and he heard Reeve huffing impatiently behind him. "Slow down, will you?" Reeve's protest was exasperated. "Some of us don't have your long legs." Sephiroth forced himself to shorten his stride. "...I'm sorry," he forced himself to say. "It's fine. I should exercise more anyway," Reeve offered, and Sephiroth wasn't sure if that was a joke or not, so he let it pass. "I meant, I'm sorry for questioning you. I am grateful that you and the others chose not to tarnish my reputation further than you had to." "Oh. ...well. You're welcome." Reeve paused, getting his breath back. "But you see why I don't want you hidden away, right? You're a polarizing figure on your own, just like Cloud. People will have cause to wonder whether we're - I don't know, using you as a secret assassin. Or if Shinra's moving to retake control. Public perception of you as being your own man - and as an ally of the people who saved the world - will do more to deflect suspicion and fear than letting you become Edge's first cryptid." Sephiroth reluctantly thought that over. Put that way, Reeve's plan appeared to make sense, not that he had any idea how shaping public opinion actually worked. But... "...I have a request," he murmured. "What is it?" "Don't... don't put me on display again without telling me. Like you did last night, at the restaurant." That actually stymied the older man, though Sephiroth could feel no triumph in it. "...we weren't trying to talk about you behind your back," Reeve offered, in a lower tone than he'd used before. "I promise. We knew you could hear us. It's just-" "...you weren't comfortable with me," Sephiroth supplied heavily. "...well, yes. But I really am sorry," Reeve offered, and he did sound sincere. "I didn't think - I didn't realize it would bother you." "I'm not in the habit of announcing when things bother me." Sephiroth sighed. "...apology accepted. Thank you for hearing me out." "I forget sometimes not everyone is as mad for politics as I am." Reeve rolled his eyes, gently self-mocking, and Sephiroth felt safe enough to offer a brief smile. "I might ask you to put in public appearances now and then - not anytime soon, mind you - but I promise I won't put you in the spotlight." "I wonder if even you can guarantee that, Director," Sephiroth sighed. Reeve chuckled. "Well, the alternative is to go be a hermit somewhere, but I don't recommend that." "Mmm." Sephiroth wasn't sure he wasn't tempted, even now. He'd been fully prepared to mope about in the City of the Ancients for the rest of his Aeris-given days until chocobo pox and Vincent Valentine, in that order, had entered his life. Reeve, in any case, filled the silence with plans and observations all the way to the airship docks, and promised Sephiroth's paycheck for the Wolfmeister hunt within the next week. Sephiroth nodded, waited with his arms clasped behind him until Reeve was safely aboard his flagship, and then turned sharply to head to the dock's chocobo stables and attached paddock. It was already late afternoon, and Gleipnir was waiting for him. The paddock wasn't overly full. A mated pair ignored him utterly, a yearling warbled curiously as he passed through the gate. Most were yellows, and the ones that weren't, Sephiroth was pleased to see weren't dyed - then a familiar wark rose above the din, and Sephiroth forgot all other chocobos in an instant. "Gleipnir," escaped him in a sigh, and against all rules of chocobo discipline he allowed Gleipnir to rush over and practically tackle him for preenings. The loving roughhousing that followed might have counted as exercise all on its own, but Gleipnir still seemed so energetic by the time they wound down - crest fluffed, eyes bright, shifting on his feet - that looking at him, Sephiroth suddenly felt the weight of the past weeks of (for him) shocking idleness. "Want to go for a walk?" he asked, and Gleipnir trilled in delight and bounced. Saddled, Gleipnir was no calmer, but he let Sephiroth direct him with an uncanny responsiveness. Sephiroth rode him down the dirt track leading away from the stables and out of the dock complex at a respectful trot, keeping to one side as supply trucks and passenger buggies passed him going the opposite direction. As soon as they were clear, Sephiroth finally gave Gleipnir his head, giving in to their shared urge to run. The world blurred. Sephiroth bent over Gleipnir's feathered neck, his breath dashed from him as Gleipnir chased down the wind. Gray and brown gave way to green: they were in the sparsely-populated outskirts of Edge now, and there was no need to be cautious. Gleipnir's claws dug into the rocky dirt, flinging up dust behind them, and Sephiroth found himself grinning at the sensation of wind and sunshine and speed. Good bird. Very good bird. Not the fastest bird he'd ever ridden, but Gleipnir just plain didn't seem to get tired. Sephiroth finally reined him in when the emergent patches of farmland around Edge - another miracle courtesy of Aeris and the Lifestream - started to give way to the scrubby wildland Sephiroth was more familiar with. It wasn't quite monster territory, but it was close enough that it paid to be wary. Gleipnir was perfectly happy at a trot, warking contentedly to his rider and snatching at roadside weeds when Sephiroth let him. "You burn through fuel like an airship," Sephiroth informed him, combing affectionately through Gleipnir's soft neck feathers. Gleipnir warbled happily through his mouthful of Midgar golden clover. He and Gleipnir spotted them at the same time: a trio of low-slung dark shapes against the hazy sandstone cliffs ahead. Gleipnir halted, suddenly a ball of tension under Sephiroth's legs, his crest lifting in warning as the low drone of engines reached them both. Devil Rides, another familiar beast from Midgar-that-was. Sephiroth sat back, eyes narrow against the glare. He had no weapons or Materia, but perhaps he and Gleipnir could chase them off, give them reason to fear coming so close to human territory before they attacked a chocobo or worse, a child. He gave Gleipnir a speculative glance. He'd never truly tested Gleipnir's resolve against monsters before, but although he was tense he didn't seem fearful. A good sign, for a hunter's mount. "Come on, Gleipnir," he murmured. "Let's go to work." At his signal Gleipnir charged, a war cry shrilling from his throat. The Devil Rides revved in alarm and fled. The tactics of monster hunting came back to Sephiroth in a breathless flood, as though the years between his last mission and now had never passed at all. He harried the monsters with shouts and feinted at their tires if they swerved or slowed. Gleipnir responded to each direction as though he were a hunter's bird already, an extension of Sephiroth's will - or, he amended as Gleipnir struck out with his beak at a Devil Ride that was drifting too close, as though he were an extension of Gleipnir's protective instinct. They were well into the scrublands now, weaving through cliffs that were threatening to become a ravine. Sephiroth was contemplating ending the chase when a human figure ahead drew his attention, shouting and waving their arms from a clifftop far enough away that a normal human might have had trouble seeing them. The figure gave him a large, exaggerated 'come here!' gesture, and Sephiroth gratefully turned to drive the Devil Rides toward the signaler. This could only be a fellow monster hunter - an armed one, able to deal with the Devil Rides in a more permanent fashion than simply driving them off. The cliffs did turn into a shallow ravine, one that led into a depression surrounded by cliffs that still held a small gritty pool of stagnant water from the recent rain. It wasn't a place Sephiroth would have wanted to face monsters in on his own right now, as it gave the Devil Rides no choice but to turn and fight. It was, however, the perfect setup for an area-of-effect spell - -or, he thought, pulling Gleipnir away from the blast radius though they were in no danger, a Limit Break with similar effects. When the blast wave disippated, the Devil Rides were crumpled against the cliff walls they'd been blown against, quite definitively dead. A red-haired man with a closely-trimmed beard - 'Roderick', presumably - stood in the center of them, fists clenched, ripples of pale red and orange light fading into the ground at his feet. As Sephiroth watched from Gleipnir's back, the man's chest rose in a deep breath. "WHOO! Still got it! Eat your heart out, WRO!" Sephiroth and Gleipnir startled at once, but Roderick didn't seem to notice, turning to call up the cliff at his partner. "Moony! What do you think, does that beat Nat and Pinky's record for most monsters killed in a day?" "Wouldn't count on it!" 'Moony' was grinning, though, a dark braid falling forward over her shoulder as she bent to peer at her partner. "Eh, you're right. They got lucky, practically tripping over that Levrikon nest." Roderick turned, offering a softened grin to Sephiroth. "Hey, thanks for the assist, friend. I guess you're entitled to one of these beasties if you're after parts or - holy shit." He'd drawn close enough that Sephiroth could see the color of his eyes: blue, lit from within by an unearthly glow. The eyes of a SOLDIER, widening with shock. "General?" he breathed. His partner stepped off the cliff as though it were a low curb in Edge, hitting the steep incline below and sliding down to the ground. "Roddy?" she queried as she stood. "Moony." Roderick's voice was hushed, like he was trying not to scare off a shy woodland creature - or perhaps dispel an apparition. "Moon, get over here. It's the - it's Sephiroth!" Gleipnir shifted uneasily under Sephiroth, crest half-lifted as Roderick moved a step closer, hand lifted in - -FLASH, frenetic activity and voices and a beardless redhead grinning up at him over the solid spine of a Buster, eyes glowing blue- -he was fleeing before he even realized he'd turned Gleipnir away, panic in his throat as the SOLDIER's voice chased him back to Edge, to the safety of anonymity. Sephiroth hadn't forgotten he owed Cloud a debriefing, but it was nearly dark before he was calm enough to head home - and before Gleipnir was calm enough to let him. "I owe you a bale of roasted seaweed," Sephiroth promised him as he settled his chocobo in the stable in between Gleipnir's sleeve-chewing and solicitous beaking. "And a bucket of nuts and a run every day and - and a whole flock of receptive hens if that's what you want, but let's focus on one objective at a time." "Wark," Gleipnir agreed, and finally deigned to stick his beak in his leafy dinner. Sephiroth left him to it, slipping out of the stables and into the lengthening shadows of evening. The knowledge that he'd run from them like a frightened child burned in his gut, but he was still unsettled enough that he kept to those shadows all the way back to the church. SOLDIERs. There are SOLDIERs still alive and in operation! ...what do I do now? Cloud didn't mention Sephiroth's chance meeting when he came by with dinner and a notebook, and if he noticed that Sephiroth was preoccupied and couldn't keep his thoughts together to save his life, he didn't mention that either. Either he was being gentle - unlikely - or he really didn't know about it. Perhaps he and the SOLDIERs in the wildlands didn't know each other, so they wouldn't think to contact the Hero of the Crisis to exclaim they'd seen the General. Either way, Sephiroth was grateful, and did his best to describe the lab in Corel between bites of corned beef sandwich and a brain that kept circling back around to the same spot like a train on a track: SOLDIERs alive, SOLDIERs alive. "Sephiroth?" Cloud prodded, and Sephiroth jerked up - kicking his train of thought into motion again. "...it's been a strange couple of days," he offered by way of explanation, and it had the benefit of not actually being a lie. "Where were we?" "Lab." Cloud glanced at the notebook propped in his crossed legs. "Evidence of human experimentation?" Sephiroth mentally placed himself back in the lab again, looking around carefully. "None," he said slowly. "Tubes notwithstanding." He saw Cloud grimace. "Kinda glad I didn't see that." "Mmm." Sephiroth was grateful as well. "Anyway, aside from the tubes, there wasn't really anything that said 'experiment equipment' to me. It seemed more like... offsite storage." "Under a reactor?" Cloud's nose wrinkled in incredulity. "Where else? The head of Shinra Science Division had unfettered access to Shinra's reactors to a degree shared by few others on Gaia. He stored-" His throat closed. Sephiroth forced a swallow. "He stored the bulk of Jenova's body in much the same way." "...yeah, okay." Cloud scratched out 'Jenova' in his notebook, and stared at the word in dim dismay. "...shit. I'll bet you anything he was storing Jenova samples in there." "That would be the worst case scenario," Sephiroth agreed. "Hopefully the WRO forensic techs will be able to confirm one way or the other soon." "You say it so calmly," Cloud muttered resentfully. "I do?" Sephiroth blinked, and got a flat stare in return. "I... apologize," he offered tentatively. "...nothing to apologize over." Cloud huffed, tapped his pencil restlessly, his gaze resolutely fixed on the church door, nowhere near Sephiroth's general direction. Which was likely why Cloud sensed them first, though Sephiroth's senses were just as sharp as his. Sephiroth saw the younger man's gaze sharpen and body tense, and immediately directed his attention outside. Footsteps - breathing - voices, hushed and quickly stifled. Every stifled giggle and stumble over a pebble screamed that this was a force with no discipline and no training. His fan club had come calling again. Cloud stood, and waved Sephiroth down when he would have followed. Sephiroth clenched his hands by his thighs, making himself obey, and watched Cloud approach the door in an unconcerned saunter. Just in front of it, he lifted a hand and waited - listening, as Sephiroth was, to the whispered voices as they fluttered and hissed and cohered into a chant: "One, two, three, now!" The door burst open six inches and thumped into Cloud's waiting palm. "...oh shit," one of them opined. Sephiroth couldn't see Cloud's face, but could picture the man's narrow glare of displeasure from the tone of his voice. "Can I help you?" "Um..." Another hiss of whispers, cut off when one enterprising young man piped up, "Is Sephiroth here?" Sephiroth was about to rise, orders or no orders, when Cloud spoke again. "Jack, remember that conversation we had about treating people like tourist attractions?" "Think that might apply to someone like General Sephiroth too?" "You can't keep him from us forever!" another voice blurted. Cloud actually laughed at that, a sound that was mostly breath. "Paul, there's a giant gaping hole in the roof of this building. Do you honestly think I could keep someone with SOLDIER abilities jailed here?" Cloud huffed again, shaking his head. "Look, I'm not gonna say 'Sephiroth isn't here' or 'Sephiroth isn't back,' because I know you won't believe me. I am going to tell you that you're building him up in your heads into this figure that doesn't even exist, and when that illusion gets shattered it - it'll hurt like hell, okay?" He took a deep breath, Sephiroth twisting in guilty resentment behind him. "If and when General Sephiroth chooses to make it public, you'll know. Until then, stop barging into condemned buildings and stop following people around just because they look like him. You're going to give someone's granny a heart attack at this rate." "We never!" came the protest. "Starcup Coffee, this morning," Cloud answered mildly, and there were several indrawn breaths. "Didn't you know the SOLDIER process heightens senses? People with the enhancements can track your scent. Like Guard Hounds." He was smirking now, Sephiroth could hear it. "Have a nice night, boys." He swung the door shut again with firm finality, but didn't move away from it until their visitors' footsteps faded away. "...right," he said on the end of a sigh. "Where were we?" Sephiroth dropped his gaze as Cloud turned back toward him again. "...how did you-" he began. "You left the bathroom door locked when you made your daring escape," was the wry response. "I had to kick it open. Wasn't hard to figure things out from there." "...ah." Sephiroth winced. "I'll - write them an apology note. Or something." Cloud chuckled, sinking down onto the nearest intact pew from where Sephiroth sat, crosslegged, on his cot. "I'd like to see their faces when they get that. Anyway, anything else about the lab? Anything that might say who used it last?" Sephiroth shut his eyes tightly. "...not Hojo," he said slowly, feeling his way through his own thoughts. "Or anyone who was all that familiar with his methods, I think. The samples were disorganized by his standards." "Well, that's something, I guess," Cloud sighed. "I mean, we killed Hojo good and dead, but I was having visions of a vengeful lab assistant or something." "A vengeful lab assistant would give us a direction," Sephiroth answered sourly. "Without that all we have is a suspect who may or may not be Scarlet, and who may or may not be responsible for any of this." Cloud frowned, but he didn't disagree. "...guess all we can do is hope Barret or the WRO turn something up," he admitted. "And keep our ears open in the meantime. Are you going to be okay?" Sephiroth blinked, surprised enough to actually meet Cloud's eyes. Cloud had a crease between his brows and his jaw was set in a stubbornness so familiar it was painful - literally, as a flash of white static stabbed through Sephiroth's head - but as he blinked the static away, Cloud's expression didn't change. Is he... worried for me? "I'll... be fine," he answered slowly, and Cloud's brow mercifully uncreased. "Those young men shouldn't be back tonight." "Bar the door just in case," Cloud ordered, and Sephiroth nodded. "...hate to say it," the younger man added in a lower tone, "but Reeve's right. I'm sure you can camp out here longer than he thinks, but when winter sets in you're going to be miserable in here. There is a hole in the roof." "I've slept in worse conditions for longer," Sephiroth protested, but Cloud, his mind apparently already made up, stood and collected their dishes. "We'll figure something out," Cloud assured him. "Night, Sephiroth." And that, it seemed, was the end of it. Sephiroth murmured 'good night' to Cloud's retreating back, and got up to set the bar on the door after Cloud had exited. The motions were familiar by now, as familiar as the scent of lilies and the starlight shining through the hole in the roof, sensations that sometimes followed him into the dreams where Aeris and Zack met him. He was going to miss this place.

This week's crypto story to take the world's media by storm appears to be the pig/dog monster currently haunting northern Namibia. The descriptions are of: "a mostly white animal with a doglike head and a body similar to that of a giant warthog, with a broad, round, nearly hairless back and shoulders. The creature is typically spotted attacking domestic animals, such as dogs and goats." It actually sounds a little like Prudence, except for the attacking goats bit, and the fact that she has never (as far as I am aware) been to Namibia. It will be interesting to see if this story ever develops or whether it just fizzles out as so many of these crypto-9 minute wonders seem to. Whst is mildly disturbing is that it is already being described as 'The African Chupacabras' and the Mother Nature Network writes: "Descriptions of the animal sound like some sort of genetic experiment gone awry. Locals have expressed confidence that the animal is unlike anything they've ever seen before. Many of them now suspect something nefarious is going on." Two links to this story (at random): Bizarre 'dog-headed pig monster' terrorizes villagers in Africa Mother Nature Network By Bryan NelsonTue, Feb 28 2012 at 3:56 AM EST In a story eerily similar to that of Latin America's "chupacabra" sightings, residents in northern Namibia ... Mysterious 'Dog-Headed Pig Monster' Terrorizes Africa In 1995 and 1996, some Puerto Ricans armed themselves against the vampire beast el chupacabra; last year, Malaysian residents patrolled the streets ... Friday, March 02, 2012 I bought this figurine over 30 years ago and have been puzzling over it since. It's about four-inches tall and has "China" written on the bottom, but that's all I'm sure about. The bristly hair, or possibly eyebrows, are green, it has round eyes, an aquiline nose, toothy grin, and bushy beard. The little indentation to the left is a simple oval ear (like a calf) and it has what looks like a dog's body with a green tail. I haven't seen anything else like it in Chinese art and suspect that it's either a creature from folklore or a caricature of big-nosed European devils. If a bloggo reader can identify it a decades old mystery will be solved. On this day in 2005 adventurer Steve Fossett became the first man to fly around the planet without stopping or refuelling. And now the news: Monster fleas sucked the blood of Jurassic dinosau... Otter found in Fort William seafood restaurant Conservation dilemma – Kill to save? Oetzi the Iceman's nuclear genome gives new insigh... Earthworms to Blame for Decline of Ovenbirds in No... Monster fury over Nessie hoax claim Dingoes: How dangerous are they? Nowhere to Hide: Tigers Threatened by Human Destru... Female Bonobos Brag During Social-Climbing Sex Kenya Launches Elephant conservation strategy Brown bears declared extinct in Austria - Again Of terrace-hopping creatures & child-eating ogres His plane, the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer, arrives in the Smithsonian: 1. Haunted Skies Volume Four by John Hanson and Dawn Holloway (-) 2. Dead of Night by Lee Walker (1) 3. Dark Ness by Tabitca Cope (-) 4. Haunted Skies Volume Three by John Hanson and Dawn Holloway (3) 5. Haunted Skies Volume Two by John Hanson and Dawn Holloway (-) 6. The Great Yokai Encyclopaedia by Richard Freeman (5) 7. Haunted Skies Volume One by John Hanson and Dawn Holloway (4) 8. Green Unpleasant land by Richard Freeman (-) 9. When Bigfoot Attacks by Michael Newton (-) 10. Big Cats loose in Britain by Marcus Matthews (-) 1. The Great Yokai Encyclopaedia by Richard Freeman (3) 2=. Haunted Skies Volume Four by John Hanson and Dawn Holloway (-) 2=. Orang-pendek: Sumatra's forgotten ape by Richard Freeman (4) 4. Strangely Strange but Oddly Normal by Andy Roberts (-) 5. Dinosaurs and other Prehistoric Animals on Stamps by Karl Shuker (-) 6. Predator Deathmatch by Nick Molloy (-) 7=. Big Bird by Ken Gerhard (-) 7=. Haunted Skies Volume Two by John Hanson and Dawn Holloway (-) 7=. The Cryptid Creatures of Florida by Scott Marlowe (-) 10. Extraordinary Animals Revisited by Karl Shuker (8) Last month's positions in this pinky colour, which I think is called cerise. This was a weird February saleswise: we sold a very wide range of titles, but none of them sold very much except for the new volume of Haunted Pies. New on the Frontiers of Anthropology: Something Submitted by a Reader that was a New One on Me: New on Frontiers of Zoology, Continuing the Bunyip Theme: And an article on the Reptoid "Frogfoots" Reported Especially in the US Midwest Especially in the 60s and 70s From Nick Redfern's "There's Something in the Woods...": - Bigfoot & Littlefoot — Not all hairy humanoids are giant-size... - The Wild Side of Kent — KentOnline article from Neil Arnold... - Heuvelmans' On The Track continues to inspire — A cryptozoological classic... - NSW 'Thylacine' sightings update — More eye-witness reports... - Turning back extinction clock — 32,000 year old seed grows into a new plant... - Love is in the air @ Devil's Ark — It's Tasmanian devil breeding season... - Big Bird: Fossils of World's Tallest Penguin Discovered — New Zealand giant... - Six-Legged Giant Finds Secret Hideaway — 'Extinct' tree lobster rediscovered... I’m still working on the next one, but it’s rather complicated so it could take me some time to finish – providing that I find sufficient information during my research for it to be worth writing. The current one, entitled “Global Bigfoot Names,” covers some of the names that I’ve found are used around the world. I think it’s always useful to know some of the alternative names for Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Yeti etc: I can’t vouch for the veracity of all of them, so if you need to know more I suggest you use Google, or some other search engine, to find out about them. And I hope that my own research will give you some ideas. Enjoy, and good hunting!

Hey all! Just in case you've been living under a rock since January, I thought I'd give a shout out to the KAS and any other writers who read the blog. Submissions for the latest anthology open October 1 and will be accepted throughout the month of October. The details are below. (I stole them right off the website.) Bernard and I look forward to reading your stories! By the way, please remember we have a contest for the cover design as well. Submissions for the cover art should go to the same address. Details for the contest can be found here. Submissions for the second Kindle All-Stars project will be open from October 1st to October 31st, 2012. ALL of the following guidelines MUST be adhered to, or your story will be returned to you un-read. THEME GUIDELINES FOR KAS 2 The theme for the second Kindle All-Stars Project is Cryptozoology. Your story must pertain in some way to the list of cryptids found on this page. Note: We are open to more than one story about the main cryptids (Bigfoot, Nessie, etc.) so do not be discouraged in submitting your work. That being said, there will be a limit to how many we take about one creature. Choose your cryptid wisely. Just as with Resistance Front, all profits from this book will be donated to a designated charity. The charity will be announced closer to the book's release date. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES FOR KAS 2 1. All submissions must be emailed to KindleAllStars@gmail.com with "KAS2" in the subject heading. 2. All submissions must be orginal, never-before-published works. 3. Word count: Maximum 6k words. 4. Format as follows: - 12 point, Times New Roman font. - Double spaced. - Two spaces after every period. (Not negotiable. Don't try to convince El Presidente otherwise.) - Microsoft Word .doc or .docx only - Improperly formatted stories will not be accepted. 5. Only finished work will be accepted. Do not send rough drafts, first drafts, or story ideas. We are only accepting edited, proofread, finished pieces for KAS2. *If you require editorial assistance, contact Laurie after you've read the KAS editorial services webpage. GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE, and we look forward to seeing your work. *Fair warning: It's too late to contact me for editorial assistance, but I may be able to hook you up with one of the associate editors if they have time to work with you between now and October 31. No, it's not a complementary service and no, editing by the service does not guarantee your submission will be accepted.

Simone Sarantuya (@thesarantuya) Folkwang University of the Arts, Graphic Design. Parson's School of Design, Art, Graphic Design. Works in Installation Art, Jewellrey Design, Ceramic Art, Photography, Photoshop Artist, Game Artist, Interieur Designer. Zagreb / Duesseldorf / Las Palmas / New York City / Berlin Kayla Compton (@kaylacompton) San Diego State University 2019 Male 45 living in the Swedish woods with my dogs. Swedish, English and Finnish. Interested in sci-fi, nature and the unanswered questions. Mary Gubb (@mary_gubb) An artist and Social Worker Working in Cape Town, SA. Just a domesticated mouse, in search of sanity. David Harris (@davidharrisofficial) I am David Harris & Profession Senior Manager at LandVision. LandVision provide Landscape Architect input, landscape design, landscape management, tree surveys, tree reports, ecology surveys. Jessica "Jess Alter (@jess_alter) In 2014, author Jessica “Jess” Alter published the third and final installment in an epic social science fiction trilogy filled with sex, tech, and firearms. Her new Cryptid Series was published on multiple ebook platforms starting in 2015. The first book in the series, ‘Til Undeath Do Us Part, brings cryptid lore and legend into the modern scientific world with unexpected and thrilling results. Fernando Salles (@fernandos19) Sou um estudante universitário do curso Licenciatura em Matemática, e formado no curso Técnico Agrícola. M Bybee (@mbybee) M Bybee is an avid photographer and explorer who believes in documenting and sharing the world beyond the pavement. Photographer, Cyclist, Explorer All my images are copyright M Bybee and available for purchase at mbybee.net Photography//Lake Superior//Chequamegon Bay//Apostle Islands//Northern Wisconsin 20//London University Student// Hairmodel Sit down lets chat g pav (@gpav1376)

|4 out of 5 stars| ***Wanda’s Summer Festival of Reading Fluff*** Verity is ready to settle down for some serious ballroom dancing—until her on-again, off-again, semi-boyfriend Dominic De Luca, a member of the monster-hunting Covenant of St. George, informs her that the Covenant is on their way to assess the city's readiness for a cryptid purge. With everything and everyone she loves on the line, there's no way Verity can take that lying down. Alliances will be tested, allies will be questioned, lives will be lost, and the talking mice in Verity's apartment will immortalize everything as holy writ--assuming there's anyone left standing when all is said and done. It's a midnight blue-light special, and the sale of the day is on betrayal, deceit...and carnage. “…I collected all the knives I’d thrown at the various dart boards—it was a surprisingly high number, given how little time I’d had, but I guess stress makes me stabby…” (Verity Price) The Covenant of St. George has come to Verity’s city to check on the progress of their member, Dominic De Luca (Verity’s kinda sorta boyfriend). There aren’t many men out there that wouldn’t be intimidated by Verity’s physical skills and cryptid knowledge, so she’s anxious that he may choose a side and that it won’t be hers. When Verity is kidnapped by her Covenant cousin, Margaret, choices will have to be made. Once again, Verity’s colony of Aeslin mice make the book for me—they are a delightful creation, offering intelligent humour during the course of the book. For example, when the city’s cryptids are planning their offensive, it’s agreed that the mice could be excellent spies. “The family has coexisted with Aeslin mice for generations, which brings us to the one possible flaw in this plan,” said Uncle Mike. “We don’t know for sure that this Margaret woman doesn’t have a colony of her own.” “If we encounter heretics while on the search for our brave Priestess, we will smite them down with the Fury of a Thousand Angry Rolling Pins!” squeaked the High Priest of the mice. In short, this is a delightful second book of the series and I would highly recommend it to fans of the urban fantasy genre.

Contest #6 is over and winner has been picked. I will be sending out an autographed book to them today or tomorrow. This leads us to Contest #7 which happens to coincided with my birthday MONTH. (Yes, I celebrate the whole month of November…one day has never been enough for me). The question is a little bit different for this contest. The prize will be a signed copy of Cryptid Hunters. To enter go to the Moleskine journal on my web page and click the Contest! button. As always, you can’t win if you don’t play. Good luck!

$10 donation at the door every night. Check out the Hive in the Outer Sunset district for some of the best SF concerts and local art. The Honey Hive Gallery is a center for music and the arts in San Francisco. See below for a list of SF concerts at the Honey Hive Gallery. Father Mountain (Nashville, TN) https://fathermountain.bandcamp.com/ Sore Thumb (Bay Area) soundclo... Read more Embracers "No Gospel Tour" Bay Area stop at the Honey Hive Gallery in SF. Featuring Cody William, Th... Read more Techie Blood Stress Relief Regional Justice Center World Peace $10 All ages Doors at 6:30pm ... Read more Free Kittens & Bread (americana punk from austin, tx) https://freekittensandbread.bandcamp.com/ +lo... Read more Doors Open @ 6:30 P.M. Quentel the Cryptid - 7:00 P.M. - 8:00 P.M. Killer Caribou - 8:00 P.M. - 9:00... Read more Gloom (WA Emo) www.gloomwa.bandcamp.com Drug War (SF Garage Pop) https://soundcloud.com/lofilegs-42... Read more There were three live models for our last figure drawing workshop. It was a great chance to practice gesture drawing. There was some opportunity for brief sketches of the human form as well as some longer poses. A special thanks goes out to our organizer and promoter, our models, and certainly all the kind people … Read more This show, with its successful turnout, ended up being the perfect demonstration of the community-minded goals The Hive maintains. The gallery tries to, not only bring together artists, but their friends, and their friends, and their friends! It was a great reception with a very open-minded crowd. The theme was well received and the artists … Read more Not only has the wonderful Honey Hive art gallery and event space in The Outer Sunset been growing and evolving successfully; it’s taken a change, bringing San Francisco some of the edgiest community benefits seen so far! Stop by during the day to look at our wonderful art and chat about the neighborhood or check … Read more This was the last event organized by The Honey Hive Gallery’s founder, Topher, and it couldn’t have meant more to him. It was a success because it brought people together in the neighborhood. People came from all over for some delicious free food, art-viewing, and event art-making on the sidewalk. At the end of the … Read more

Lurking in the forested uplands of East Africa there is said to be a species of big cat that as yet science refuses to accept - the Marozi. Often described as being rather like a small, spotted lion, the Marozi is rather more distinct than that. Unlike lowland lions it lives in densely forested hills where big game such as antelope and zebra are absent. Unlike the leopard, which does live in those forests, the Marozi does not climb trees and rather than being a solitary animal it moves in pairs or small groups. Evidence for the Marozi began to emerge from the forests as early as 1903 and there is even the skin of one in London’s Natural History Museum. Despite a wealth of evidence supporting the reality of this beast the scientific establishment resolutely refuses to accept that it exists. In this book cryptid expert Larry Jaffer reviews the evidence for this mysterious beast and comes to some surprising conclusions. Cryptids are animals, or plants, which are believed by some people to exist, but which have not been accepted as real by the wider scientific community. These cryptids are animals which have been seen, and sometimes photographed, but for which no definitive evidence has been This series of Cryptid Casebooks explores the world of the cryptids. About the Author Larry Jaffer has long had an interest in the fortean mysteries that surround us. He grew up ion the Surrey when the Surrey Puma hit the headlines, and went out in search of that elusive beast - without success. Since then he has researched a myriad of other cryptids, including Sasquatch, the sea serpent, the Beast of Bodmin and others. He has also investigated UFO sightings and tracked down numerous ghosts and poltergeists. He has a voluminous archive of witness interviews, photos and other data to back up his writings on the subjects of the unusual, paranormal and downright odd.

At long, long last. Turns out having an active fandom is a blessing without end. (Except when they get mischievous with their memes and shitposts, then it is truly a curse from the depths of sin and shame.) The crew over at Discord have compiled an actual map of New Albion complete with district descriptions, mentions of where opera highlights take place and for heaven’s sake, the freaking price of fares for public transportation. Credits are listed at the end. I will be uploading this to Bandcamp and it will be included as a bonus document with downloads of the operas. And without further ado: Districts of New Albion District 1: Waterfront District The main entry point for most newcomers to the city, the docks from the Waterfront District provide a perfect look at the iconic New Albion skyline. Servicing both boats and zeppelins (until zeppelins fell out of fashion during the Tech Boom, to be replaced by skycabs), all air and water travel into and out of the city comes through here. Most permanent residents of the Waterfront District are not too wealthy. Due to the constant influx of sailors and other travelers, District 1 often slides under the radar with regards to crime. It is not the dirtiest district in the city, but it is far from the cleanest. Most business are built to cater to travelers. There’s a dive bar on every street, often with nautical names to appeal to the sailors who keep the place running. There is limited government presence, however, as the customs office is located (as of the Atompunk Era) where the headquarters of the Zeppelin Union Pilots was once located. More than anything, though, this government presence oversees only imports and exports for the city. What goes on behind closed doors and inside rowdy taverns doesn’t really interest them. The red-haired gang has been allowed to operate with impunity here. The District’s location, bordering only the Market District (with the exception of a small corner shared with the Business District), facilitates the moving of imports and exports to and from the shops and craftsmen of the city. This constant interaction formed a sort of bond between the two Districts, which helped to shelter the Waterfront District during the Civil War. People and Events: Jane Cryptid built the Waterfront District, as well as the canals that run through the rest of the city. District 2: Market District, aka Shopping District Perhaps the most accessible district to Albionites of all walks of life, the Market District is the Gateway to the City. Built around an open-air market centuries ago, the District has grown wider and wider with the rest of the city. Shops of every sort can be found here, from grocery stores to boutiques to niche goods. The Atompunk Era saw the construction of a massive shopping center, the Shopogopolis, completely reshaping one corner of the district into a single behemoth of a mall. As the Shopping District increased in size over the years, it wasn’t rare to see shops develop into full-blown chains, appearing in multiple locations in the District, for ease of use. The district itself caters to a wide variety of tastes. From the sleek, modern lines of the Shopogopolis, to the charming little vintage Dieselpunk-Era shops that can be found on Tin Pan Row, this is by far the most eclectic district. Shops of all price points can be found here, and if you’ve got a message you need to spread very quickly, the open-air market which still stands in the middle of the district is a good place to do it. Most of the permanent residents of this district are shop owners and craftsmen who, to this day, continue the tradition of living in flats located above their own shops. Even the Shopogopolis contains restricted-access sleeping quarters for employees and franchise managers. Bordering the Iron District, the Green District, and the Financial District, the Market District seems to be a natural extension of all of them, the general appearance of the shops most closely resembling the district that they are closest to. The Shopogopolis was built along the border to the Financial District, matching the clean lines of the buildings built in that district during the Atompunk Era. During the Civil War, District 2’s proximity to so many other Districts and its use by everyone in the city made it a sort of neutral zone, where enemies met on the street and eyed each other warily, likely to be banned from a multitude of shops if they showed outward aggression. People and Events: The open-air market is where Edgar McAllistair went to advertise his service during the Steampunk Era, and where he eventually built his store. Rachael also lived in this district for a while during the Atompunk Era, residing in the Shopogopolis. District 3: Iron District, aka Industrial District While the Waterfront District can be said to be rowdy, but still somehow charming, there is no sugar-coating the Iron District. It is a slum. Ever since the first factory was built in New Albion (a massive iron furnace), the city’s poorest residents have made their homes and their livings here. The owners of the factories (who often maintain nice private apartments within them, as well as owning property in more respectable districts) ensured that housing projects be built between and around their factories. While these housing projects have improved somewhat over the years (especially during Martial Law, as the government seized control of the housing, allowing workers to live anywhere in the District, as opposed to only in the block near their own workplace), they are still frequently neglected, due to the residents’ lack of ability to pay for various services to keep their homes in good repair. Still, anything that is made in New Albion that needs to be mass-produced is made right here. The Iron District has always been the noisiest district in the city. The Dieselpunk-era generators beneath the city constantly hum, and each factory has its own associated noises and smells. During the Steampunk Era, steam was constantly being emitted by various smokestacks and machines in the district, limiting visibility and coating nearly every surface in the district with moisture. Most of these plants were retro-fitted with new technology after the Civil War, and as per city standards, they were all burning clean, nuclear energy as of the Atompunk Era. Despite their poverty, the people of the Iron District do find ways to entertain themselves. It isn’t rare to turn a corner and run into a potluck block party, or hear impromptu jam sessions at all hours of the night and day while walking the streets of the Iron District. District 3 is held at the edge of the city, but many other Districts still do wrap around it. Still, due to its winding streets, territorial factory owners, and easy access to the tunnels beneath the city, it is notoriously difficult for law enforcement to actually do anything about crime in the district. The Albino Tribe has historically held prime real estate beneath the district, and trade in the sandy drug is very common here. Meanwhile, on the streets themselves, the Red-Haired Gang rules the roost, brokering in all sorts of illegal trades. People and Events: During the Steampunk Era, a young woman named Amelia killed herself in her home in the Iron District, setting off the chain of events that eventually caused the city to fall under Martial Law. Near the generators, far below the city (and far from the Atompunk-Era monorail lines) in an unobtrusive corner of the Underground, is a hidden Room containing what is essentially a supercomputer made of antique doll parts. As of the Cyberpunk Era, the Iron District is also the home of a young woman named Shira, who runs a radio broadcasting service from a booth near the one of the generators, colloquially known as “The Bonegrind Machine. The O’Brien family also made their home in this district, with Jacqueline relocating to District 6 after the establishment of Martial Law. The home that they shared as children was inherited by John, and was destroyed during the Civil War. John relocated to a government facility in the tunnels beneath District 5, and young Constance joined her aunt in District 6. District 4: Green District, aka The Village The smallest District of New Albion, there are people who consider District 4 to be nothing more than an extension of (or tumor on) District 5. Still, anyone who spends any amount of time there will tell you that it has a completely different culture and aesthetic, making it difficult to legislate it as anything other than its own district. Murals cover the buildings, many of which date back to the Steampunk Era, although they’ve been retrofitted with technology, leaving marks that have created structures that seem to be from all three major eras simultaneously. Small playhouses and coffee shops dot the corners, and performance art frequently spills out of these spaces and into the streets. The district’s name comes from the garden boxes in most windows, as well as the small areas of curated parks. Many businesses in the district decorate with plants, as well, giving a more “in-touch-with-nature” vibe than the majority of the city. The people who live here are mostly those who have decided that the rat-race of life in New Albion isn’t for them, and have decided to ply their trades as musicians, writers, actors, painters, sculptors, or any other creative profession that doesn’t quite fit under the label of “craftsman” or “scientist.” It is said that the Voodoopunk movement was born here, as the youths rebelling against New Albion society frequently met in clubs in The Village, rather than the bigger, more “establishment” clubs of the Pleasure District. Nestled between Districts 2, 3, 5, and 6, the Green District fought hard to maintain its independence throughout the Civil War. However, that independent spirit is still with it today. Like the Market District, it is not characterized by any one level of economic success: starving artists and rich, eccentric art patrons may live in the same apartment complexes. For this reason, some uphold the Green District as a model of equality, although the truth is always a little bit more complicated than that. This District is also a safe-haven for a variety of criminal activities, and the sandy drug is always popular here. People and Events: Voodoopunk was born in the Green District, with young people from flocking from several other districts (primarily Districts 3, 5, and 6) to partake in the movement. When the Voodoopunks were forced underground, it was the in tunnels beneath District 4 where they made their home. District 5: Capital District, aka The District, aka Old District, aka First District, aka New Albion (name no longer in use post-Civil War) At the heart of the city, District 5 is the center of New Albion. Wide, paved streets and tall, gleaming buildings make for a district that is visible from any other district in the city. In this district is the Monk and Gambler Memorial Park, containing a centuries-old church and a small museum, dedicated to the history and founding of New Albion. The museum is on the very spot where the legendary card game took place, and the park itself is located on Cryer’s Boulevard (where a cryer would announce new city ordinances in the days before widespread literacy), and is only a stone’s throw away from the Capitol Building, where the City Council meets to discuss the rules and regulations of the city. This District is where most of the upper classes make their homes, and is where the laws of the city are made. Most permanent residents have some weight in New Albion politics in some form or another.This is by far the cleanest district in the city, though it is also the most tightly regulated. This District became the symbol of law and order, as well as oppression, during the days of Martial Law. Once the Civil War began, it desperately tried to maintain its own relevance. Names such as “First District” became popular during this time, although its official designation, due to its geographical location, had already been determined as “District 5.” Some even went as far as calling it “New Albion,” arguing that the other Districts were all in rebellion, and clearly no longer wished to be a part of the city-state. While it is still the heart of the city and the place where the laws get made, as well as the district containing most of the city’s hospitals, the primary terminal for the city’s Monorail system, and the Voodoopunk Cathedral (built during Reunification, but abandoned after the ArcadiaCorp incident), the Tech Boom saw a shift in the importance of the Tech District, which, as the home base for ArcadiaCorp, temporarily eclipsed the Capital District in power and influence. After the disappearance of the entire ArcadiaCorp Board of Directors, as well as the majority of its employees, District 5 was restored to its former status. People and Events: Cryer’s Boulevard was, until the instating of Martial Law, a fairly common place for political activism, including Byron McAllistair’s infamous Voodoopunk rallies. Legions of Voodoopunks would parade from their favored clubs in District 4 all the way to Cryer’s Boulevard for these events. It was in the Capital District where the McAllistair family made their home, from Edgar’s rise to fortune until the Martyrdom of St. Priscilla. While that house was torn down during the Civil War, there were attempts to rebuild and restore it made by the Voodoopunk Church after the Reunification. As “Inanna,” Constance O’Brien would eventually come to the Capital District. This District was also the home of Connor and Lee Morgan, and where Rachael would spend 2 years in an asylum. District 6: Financial District, aka Business District If District 5 is where the laws get made in New Albion, District 6 is where the money gets made. This is the other upper-class district in New Albion, although not quite as closely-regulated or as conservative. Office buildings predominate this district, and many large business in other districts, including the factories of District 3, maintain a presence here. Most of the permanent residents of this district are involved in business, whether they are simple bean counters or CEOs of major corporations. For this reason, while it is considered to be one of the upper-class districts, it does have a considerably larger middle-class population than District 5. It is known for its lovely parks by the side of the canal, as well. Curled around District 5, those with a poetic bent say that the Business District forms a ghastly mirror with District 3 on the Capital District’s other side. For the money to continue flowing into the Financial District, people must suffer in the Iron District. Mostly, though, this is just where the financial buildings happened to be built up, on the other side of the governmental buildings from the factories. Still, it is rather neat how Districts 3 and 4 form the other set of brackets, holding District 5 in place away from the Market District. It is these four districts that form the majority of the New Albion city skyline, as viewed from the docks. People and Events: A young man named Jasper once lived here with his family, including his young daughter, Fay. Constance O’Brien also grew up in the Financial District, raised by her Aunt Jackie. District 7: Tech District, aka Science District, aka Inventor’s District (name no longer in use post-Martial Law) District 7 has not changed as much over the years as its various names would suggest. It was always a place for science, technology, and education. The names merely reflect the changing language used to describe these goals. During the Dieselpunk Era, generators were built under this district (as well as under the Iron District and Pleasure District, wrapping around this end of the city and skirting District 5 to avoid noise pollution there), to facilitate the large power output of many of the laboratories here. The Inventor’s District in the Steampunk Era, much like the Iron District, usually featured dramatically-lowered visibility, as many of the inventions being produced required a vast amount of steam. Some neighborhoods did not suffer from this as much, however. The Botanists’ Lodge had a greenhouse that took up nearly an entire block by itself, containing specimens of all sorts of rare plants, including unique cultivars. The Alchemist’s Lodge also did not produce too much steam, and while alchemy has fallen out of favor over the years, the efforts of those early chemists has lived on in the current business to stand in that place: Ashland Street Pharmaceuticals. The district changed very rapidly after Martial Law was declared, and the name of the district was forcibly changed to the Science District, to take the focus off of individual inventors (including Annabel McAllistair, whose discovery of technology that brought dead people back to life as mechanical constructs had caused the riots in the first place), and place it back on science and advancement as a whole. After Reunification, scientists stopped focusing on the realities of the Civil War and began dreaming once again, leading to the rapid developments of the Tech Boom, as well as the discovery of clean nuclear power. The colloquial name for the district changed again at this point, as people associated this blossoming of technology with the district that made it all possible. People and Events: Annabel McAllistair lived and worked in the Inventor’s District until her death. During the Tech Boom, this district was also home to ArcadiaCorp, making it the new center of Voodoopunk activity in the city. The president of ArcadiaCorp at the time of the Voodoopunk’s Ascension, Amber, lived her with her son, Adrian. It is also the location of many different educational facilities, including Miss Idle’s Home for Orphaned Girls. District 8: Pleasure District, aka Entertainment District The farthest district from the river, the Pleasure District has the smallest population of any of New Albion’s districts, despite its large geographic area. Most tourists to the city, when they are not shopping in District 2, board a monorail or skycab and make a bee-line for District 8, the district that never sleeps. From theaters and zoos to sports arenas and New Albion’s own “red light district,” from lavish resorts to the original, beloved amusement park that has stood in the same spot since the Steampunk Era, fun for all ages can be in District 8. Much like Districts 2 and 3, most permanent residents of the district are those who make their livelihoods here, including professional athletes, prostitutes, and actors, just to name a few. There is also a generalized center of operation for city maintenance crews, who work throughout the city and use the servitor tunnels to quickly get wherever they need to go. Nightclubs of varying descriptions can be found on every street, and many of the resorts capitalize on incredible views of the mountains, or the farmlands on the outskirts of New Albion. While they may not be as highly-regarded as the resorts along the Tusian Coast, wealthy patrons from faraway cities like Victoria (later Avalon) “simply adore” their proximity to the constant excitement of New Albion. The sights and sounds and smells of the district are usually distraction enough that most pleasure-seekers don’t even notice the constant hum of the generators that lie under this district, powering most of the fun that happens here. While the generators do provide power to the entire city, the three districts that need it most get the lion’s share of the power. People and Places: District 8 has always been a popular place for couples. Annabel McAllistair spent plenty of time in this district with her doll, Jasper. It was also at a nice restaurant in the Pleasure District that Fay broke up with Edgar McAllistair. Jackie O’Brien and Dorothy could also be found here rather frequently (when they weren’t enjoying the cozier attractions in District 4). The Tunnels Beneath New Albion: The tunnels are an elaborate maze of all sorts of corridors and winding subterranean roads that spans the entirety of the city, as well as areas outside of the city limits. Rather than being one large, pre-planned structure, the tunnel system under New Albion grew in a variety of directions and from a variety of sources. Under what is now the Iron District, the Albino Tribe (the original inhabitants of the land where New Albion was built) built a series of tunnels so that they could continue living in their own territory. Eventually, during the Steampunk Era, the city built a series of servitor tunnels to allow work crews to quickly and effectively move from one district to another without disrupting city life. Meanwhile, an Albino woman named Alice was building something else under the city, a Room that wouldn’t have a purpose until decades after its construction. These two series of tunnels inevitably met, and during the Dieselpunk Era, they were expanded even further to create the generators under Districts 3, 7, and 8. The ceilings of these chambers were heavily reinforced, and to this day, the city keeps a careful eye on these patches, and is quick to handle any outages caused by rare leaks from the canal system. During this time period, the Voodoopunks were also living in the tunnels underneath New Albion (specifically, those beneath District 4). During the Tech Boom, many tunnels were re-directed and re-built to become the subterranean stretches of the Monorail line, further complicating the twisting maze of tunnels beneath the city. To this day, they are an important part of the city, and are full of untold mysteries. The Monorail Line: Built during the Tech Boom, the Monorail is the easiest and fastest way to get from Point A to Point B in New Albion. Centered in District 5, each Line has its own purpose in the city. Line A makes a full circuit around the city, stopping at least once in each of the eight districts. Line B is a sort of commuter line, stopping at the most heavily-trafficked stops in the city in Districts 3, 4, 5, and 6. Line C is a longer, more commercially-focused line preferred by out-of-towners, and is the only line that leaves the confines of the city itself, with a stop at the train station on the outskirts of town. The Monorail was built to replace other, slower forms of transit throughout the city, especially the Steampunk-era trolley system. While District 8 still maintains its historical trolley to the delight of tourists, it is the only district to do so. The Monorail is also known as the Subway system, as it runs underground as well as on elevated rails, to better navigate all of the different nerve centers of the city. Visitors to the Shopogopolis have, for years, delighted in the Monorail Tunnel, a massive glass structure that passes through a large portion of the building, high above shoppers and visible from many of the mall’s interior plazas. Line A passes through this tunnel, as the Shopogopolis was built at the same time as the Line A rail. |Public Transit Fares| |Number of Stops||Trolley Fare (Steampunk Era)||Trolley Fare (Dieselpunk Era)||Monorail Fare (Atompunk Era)| |1||2 L||16 L||32 L| |2||4 L||32 L||64 L| |3||7 L||60 L||120 L| |4||9 L||72 L||144 L| |5||10 L||80 L||160 L| |6||12 L||96 L||192 L| |7||14 L||112 L||224 L| |8||16 L||144 L||256 L| |Day Ticket||12 L||96 L||192 L| |Round Trip||10 L||80 L||160 L| Cartographer: Sarah De Buck District Development: Phoenix Bryant Transit Fares: Kai, Taliesin Ladd New Albion Planning Committee: Gabriella Marie Hall, Fishorse, Hannah Javens, Lia Gastaldi, Abigail Maus, Catbot, Supreme Leader Nathan, nopeitsKai (Kai Abis), Jane Cronin-Scott

As is usually the case when - as with yesterday - I'm not around for a day or so, there's usually a backlog of things to report and catch up on. So, here goes: 1. From The Anomalist: Dog Dreaming: Unmasking the Hounds of Morpheus ShukerNature. Dr. Karl Shuker expounds on a curious kind of dream, the kind that features a dog. Many people have these dreams, some frightening and some of a gentle nature as benotes mankind's most common relationship with "man's best friend." Key quote: "Paying close attention to the activities of a dream dog provides important clues to the nature of the message conveyed by its visitation, at least according to the lore of dream divining." Meanwhile, at Cryptomundo, there's a nearly hour-and-a-half-long video of Eugenie Scott, Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education and President of the Board of Directors of the Bay Area Skeptics unloading her mind about the Bigfoot phenomenon in Wild Woman of the Forest. Note from Nick: Karl's is a particularly good and fascinating article - check it out! 2. And also at The Anomalist: Reports: Large, Hairy Two-legged Animal Seen The Hawkeye. In Jefferson County, IA, a few callers to Jefferson County Conservation have reported something is afoot...and it's big, hairy and walks upright. So far, Jefferson County officials are not saying Bigfoot has been spotted along the Skunk River valley, and they don't appear to want anyone else to say so either. Is there a Bigfoot presence near Fairfield, IA? Elsewhere, Regan Lee, in her "Trickster's Realm" at Binnall of America, considers one of the questions of our time in Sasquatch: The No Kill Philosophy. Meanwhile, something much cuter has been spotted, as a Pink Dolphin Appears in US Lake. The Patterson-Gimlin Film: An Analysis Anomaly Magazine. With a minor in physical anthropology, including primatology and human evolution, it appears Noah David Henson has the academic stature to comment on the famous 1967 Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film. And Henson does just that, emphasizing his analysis is a skeptical one. So, what does Henson deduce after careful consideration of the most famous Bigfoot film in history? With video. The Cryptid Chronicles Free Issue TCC. The recent establishment of a new weekly newsletter dedicated to those creatures usually referred to as cryptids generated a lot of interest. Now the publication, assembled by David Acord, Editor, who has over a dozen years of reporting and editing experience, has a free, downloadable copy of its latest issue available in PDF format. This issue has articles on the mysterious "gowrow" of the Ozarks, the Bladenboro Beast, the ongoing Hairy Hominid Name project and more. As we said, this copy is a free download, but the weekly publication is usually available only by subscription. Meanwhile, at Cryptomundo, a new foray into the wilds of Africa gets underway for MonsterQuest as Mokele-Mbembe Expedition II Departs. Will Dr. Bill Gibbons be able to lead the television crew to proof of a giant sauropod in the Congo? 3. Over at the main CFZ blog you can find some cool new posts, including: (A) Oll Lewis on the Gwiber; and (B) 600 snakes and a very big fish. 4. Raven on Ghillie-Suits Vs. Bigfoot; 5. Regan Lee has a new Bigfoot-post over at Binnall of America, in which she says: "Within the Bigfoot phenomena, there are several controversial topics. I'd say the three most controversial include the debates over 'giant ape' vs. something else, paranormal/inter-dimensional vs. strictly flesh and blood, and the kill/no kill view. I'm not that interested in the first of the three; it is what it is in that regard. And if Sasquatch is a paranormal/inter-dimensional entity, (which I believe it is) the other stuff is moot. But one thing I'm absolutely positive about is the kill/no kill debate. Regardless of what Bigfoot is, I support, without hesitation, a 'no kill' stance." And here's the rest of Regan's post.

It doesn’t get much madder than this. Forget monsters chasing us in the night. There once was a talking tortoise that helped topple a dictator! This is a cryptozoology story like no other – a talking tortoise offering astute political advice! Friends of mine told me about this strange tale from long ago. Apparently the talking tortoise appeared on the Ugandan scene back in 1978 during the horrible reign of then dictator, Idi Amin. According to a couple newspaper accounts I read, tens of thousands of Ugandans claimed to have seen and heard this tortoise speaking. Officials from every level (government, police, security, all the way down to local chieftains) were called upon to gather and figure out how to deal with this bothersome “enfundu,” the Ugandan word for tortoise. The people were so worked up over the tortoise and its message that they called neighboring Kenyan radio stations to report the progress of the turtle across Uganda. The lumbering beast reportedly rolled into a town called Jinja (on the Nile River, near Kampala) and demanded to speak to the provincial governor and commissioner of police. It claimed it had a special message for them. Amin’s newspaper, The Voice of Uganda responded by reporting, “The provincial governor and the provincial commissioner of police have dismissed as totally untrue the rumor that has been circulating around that there is a talking tortoise anywhere.” Tensions mounted and eventually the government ordered anyone, police or mere citizen, to arrest anyone talking about the talking tortoise. They were referred to as “confusing agents who are collaborating with the exiles to try and confuse the people of Uganda.” The benevolent dictator repeatedly stated he would put these “confusing agents” before a firing squad as soon as they were caught. What did the Tortoise Say? Why all the fuss over a talking tortoise? The problem wasn’t the animal speaking, the problem was its message. You see, the tortoise was predicting the downfall of Amin’s regime. Oops! According to a biography of Amin (notablebiographies.com) in response to the dire prediction, the dictator “constantly changed body guards, traveling schedules and vehicles, and sleeping places. He controlled the army through frequent reorganization. He also kept his army happy by giving them tape recorders, expensive cars, rapid promotions, and businesses that had been owned by Asian traders.” That’s one way to keep everyone on their toes! Did it Exist? But did the tortoise really exist? It seems unlikely. Why? Because in their culture, the Ugandans would often use cryptic stories during time of political unrest to make their reigning government look bad. So it seems this legend was just a bit of folklore carried throughout Uganda by oral tradition for the purpose of making the dictator paranoid and uneasy and vulnerable for defeat. I found two types of real tortoises in Uganda, the Pancake and the Leopard Tortoises. The pancake tortoise grows up to 7 inches long (photo left) and can weigh up to 20 ounces. The leopard tortoise (photo below right) can grow between 11-17 inches long and can weigh up to 40 pounds. According to scientists, neither species is capable of speech. 🙂 This incident makes me look at all the cryptid stories that we love to ponder in a whole new way. Could any of them be instruments for rallying a political viewpoint? The ones that spring to mind are UFOs and aliens. There are already rumors and controversies about them that would indicate our government is using them to hide its own military operations. What about Mothman who supposedly appears prior to some disaster’s occurrence? I think it’s worth noting the talking tortoise story because it teaches us how stories/information can be used to foster another agenda. I think we all should renew our resolve to look at these fantastic stories even more carefully in the future. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19780824&id=ec8yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FO4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1056,2300492 The Ottawa Citizen newspaper report. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=348&dat=19780824&id=Je0uAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0jIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4522,3508338 The Rome News-Tribune newspaper report.

Hey all! I’m swinging by with a quick blog post about Cryptids and my new book, The Rules and Regulations For Mediating Myths & Magic. The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths & Magic features a main character named Bridger and deals with Bridger’s fears about the upcoming changes in his life due to being a senior in high school. Bridger wants to go far away from his home for college because he believes it’s the only way he can be himself. To afford college and everything that goes with moving across the country, Bridger finds a job—one that has him interacting with cryptids regularly. The first cryptid I ever had knowledge of or experience with was the Loch Ness Monster. Growing up, I lived a few miles from Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia. At the time, the biggest, fastest, scariest roller coaster was a yellow monstrosity of steel track with interlocking rings that towered over the Rhine River in the Heatherdowns section of the park. The waiting queue was filled with fake diving equipment, grainy images of a sea monster, and an old video tape played on small television sets mounted in the high corners of the wooden waiting area that detailed failed expeditions to find the creature. Before I was tall enough to ride, I would stand on the bridge under the towering rings (the only interlocking rings in the world) and wait for my older, braver siblings as they screamed through twists, turns, and drops, and went upside down. Riding the Loch Ness was a coming-of-age milestone, something to brag about when disembarking on shaky legs with a raw throat. I don’t remember my first ride—what age I was or who I was with—but I do remember the fluttery feeling I got in my stomach, because even now as an adult, when I visit and stand in line, I get that familiar anxious twist when I hear the click-clack of the coaster ascending to that first formidable drop. I can’t help but compare the way I felt riding that roller coaster as a kid with the way that Bridger experiences being a teenager—lots of stomach-swooping feelings and eager anticipation for what comes next. (I would like to point out that the first roller coaster I did ride at Busch Gardens was The Big Bad Wolf, which is another folk tale, and has since been removed from the park. That ride was accompanied by lots of howls and staff members who ominously invited you to ride “at the speed of fright.”) Though neither the Loch Ness Monster nor The Big Bad Wolf appear in The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths and Magic two other closely related cryptids do – Ogopogo, a Canadian lake monster, and The Beast of Bray Road, a Wisconsin wolf/human hybrid. Researching lesser known American folklore was one of the highlights of writing this book. I loved reading about the sightings and urban myths that populate the Midwest and incorporating those into Bridger’s narrative. I hope readers enjoy seeing how Bridger interacts with those myths as much as I enjoyed writing about them. The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths & Magic is available now!

— 172 horsepower & other things you’ll like — Can-Am pushes the performance of its incredible Maverick X3 Turbo high-performance UTVs further for 2018 with a jump to 172 horsepower, making them the most powerful sport models yet! There’s also a new 120-horsepower X3 for $19,999, plus upgraded Commanders and Defenders. Here’s what you need to know about the new machines. 2018 MAVERICK X3 & X3 MAX LINEUP All Maverick X3 Turbo R models are powered by an intercooled, turbocharged, three-cylinder, 900cc, double-overhead-cam, 12-valve engine with 172 horsepower (18 more than the 2017). An upgraded intercooler, fan and fuel pump contribute the extra power. The new 120-horsepower X3 Turbo doesn’t have an intercooler. X3s have roomy cabins with seats that offer fore, aft and height adjustment, quarter doors and full instrumentation that moves with the tilt steering wheel. X3 Max models have a 33-inch-longer wheelbase to provide comfortable seating for four adults. The 72-inch-wide X3 X rs Turbo R and identically equipped X3 Max X rs Turbo R top the X3 turbo lineup. They have arched, boxed dual A-arms and Fox Podium 2.5 RC2 piggyback-reservoir front shocks with dual-speed-adjustable compression and rebound for 22 inches of front suspension travel. Trailings arms with Fox 3.0 Podium RC2 remote reservoir shocks offer 24 inches of rear suspension travel. The X3 Max X rs has 22 inches of rear travel. X rs’ roll-on 14-inch beadlock wheels with 30-inch Maxxis Bighorn 2.0 tires. They also come with a full roof, full skid plate and four-point harness. They’re available in Platinum Satin, gold and red, and Triple Black. The X3 X rs starts at $26,899; the X3 Max X rs starts at $29,399. The X3 X ds Turbo R and X3 Max X ds Turbo R are 64 inches wide with 20 inches of front and rear travel from Fox Podium 2.5 RC2 piggyback reservoir shocks. X ds’ come with 29-inch Maxxis Bighorn 2.0 tires on 14-inch beadlock wheels. They’re available in Circuit Yellow, Platinum Satin and Triple Black. The X3 X ds starts at $24,999; the X3 Max X ds starts at $27,499. X3 Turbo Rs and X3 Max Turbo Rs are 64 inches wide and have 20 inches of travel front and rear using Fox Podium 2.5 QS3 shocks with three-position-adjustable compression damping. Twenty-eight-inch Maxxis Bighorn 2.0 tires on 14-inch one-piece aluminum wheels provide the traction. White is the only color. The X3 Turbo R starts at $22,999; the X3 Max Turbo R starts at $24,999. The new 120-horsepower X3 Turbo and X3 Max Turbo have the same size, suspension, and tire and wheel combination as the X3 Turbo R and X3 Max Turbo R, and they’re available in white or Hyper Silver and Sunburst Yellow. The X3 Turbo starts at $19,999; the X3 Max Turbo starts at $21,999. MAVERICK & MAVERICK MAX LINEUP The original Maverick lineup returns for 2018 with 60-inch-wide, 64-inch-wide, X mr mud and Max four-seat models; only the Maverick Turbo is discontinued. Mavericks are mid-engine, high-performance UTVs powered by a 101-horsepower, 976cc, single-overhead-cam, eight-valve V-twin. Maverick X mr and Maverick Max X mr models are 68.3 inches wide and have 12 inches of front and rear travel from Fox Podium 2.5 QS3 piggyback reservoir shocks. Factory-installed snorkels elevate the engine and transmission intakes for deep crossings. Thirty-inch ITP Cryptid tires on 14-inch aluminum wheels provide plenty of grip and ground clearance. The Maverick X mr is $21,999; the Maverick Max X mr is $23,999. The Maverick DPS and Maverick Max DPS are 64” wide with 14” of travel front and rear using Fox Podium 2.0 QS3 piggyback reservoir shocks. The Maverick DPS is $17,599; the Maverick Max DPS is $19,599. Maverick XC, XC DPS and X xc’s are 60 inches wide, with 12 inches of travel front and rear from Fox 2.0 Podium C piggyback-reservoir shocks. The X xc comes with power steering, color-accented seats and A-arms, and 27-inch tires on 12-inch beadlock wheels. The XC DPS has power steering and non-beadlock wheels. The XC doesn’t have power steering. The X xc is $18,599, the XC DPS is $15,699 and the XC is $15,699. COMMANDER & COMMANDER MAX LINEUP 2018 Commander 1000 recreation utility UTVs get a boost to 92 horsepower, a wider stance and larger brakes. The 2018 Can-Am Commander 800’s price is $1000 less than last year’s model. Commander UTVs are available in base, DPS (Dynamic Power Steering), and XT with DPS, painted bodywork and a 4500-pound winch in Mossy Oak Hunting Edition and Limited trim levels. They’re powered by a 71-horsepower, 800cc, single-overhead-cam, eight-valve V-twin or a 92-horsepower, 976cc, single-overhead-cam, eight-valve V-twin. Commander 1000s are 62.5 inches wide, and the base 800 is 58.6 inches wide. The 1000s and 800s have 10 inches of travel front and rear from preload-adjustable, non-reservoir gas shocks. Limited models have Fox QS3 shocks. The Commander 800 starts at $11,199. Prices for 1000cc Commanders begin at $12,299. The Commander Limited and Commander Max Limited lead the Commander recreation utility UTV lineup. They come with a four-speaker sound system, GPS, Fox QS3 shocks, 4500-pound winch, half windshield, roof, power steering, painted bodywork and aluminum wheels. The Commander Limited is $20,299, and the Commander Max Limited is $22,099. DEFENDER & DEFENDER MAX LINEUP For 2018 Can-Am adds value to its Defender utility recreation UTV lineup with the six-seat Defender Max HD8 priced at $12,399. The new 2018 Defender Max XT Cab HD10 supermodel features enhanced ground clearance, arched A-arms with a greater footprint and an integrated heater system. All XT packages get a new front bumper. New, larger 27-inch Maxxis Bighorn 2.0 tires are now standard on both the HD8 and HD10 Convenience vehicles. All Can-Am Defender family vehicles also receive a new cargo-box deflector to eliminate debris from the cargo bed reaching the engine compartment. A refined second-generation Dynamic Power Steering (DPS) system was added, and a revised shifter gate adds smoother operation and durability. Defender HD10s are powered by a 72-horsepower, 976cc, single-overhead-cam, eight-valve V-twin. HD8s have a 50-horsepower, 800cc, single-overhead-cam, eight-valve V-twin. The HD5 has a 38-horsepower, 427cc, single-cylinder, single-overhead-cam engine. These three- and six-passenger, tilt-bed, utility-focused UTVs are available in five trim levels. You can put a thousand pounds in the bed and tow 2000 pounds. The base HD5 starts at $9999. Base models come with 12-inch steel wheels and without power steering. DPS models start at $11,399 and have power steering and 12-inch cast-aluminum wheels with 25-inch tires. XTs start at $15,699 and come with power steering, painted bodywork, a roof, 4500-pound winch, deluxe instrumentation and 14-inch aluminum wheels with 27-inch tires. Mossy Oak Hunting Editions start at $19,699. They are equipped like XTs and come with camo bodywork, half windshield, front bumper, headache rack, roof, skid plate, side mirror and spotlight. XT Cab models start at $21,599 and have all the XT features and full cabs with tilt-up windshields, wiper kits, doors with electric windows, sliding rear windows and heater kits.

Almost a year ago now, I had met someone on one of those online social media outlets. Late in the winter time we chatted about our children and more often than not, music. We were discussing joining forces to form a band that would gig locally. I play the saxophone and sing, and being that I’m a woman its sort of a novelty still to have a female sax player in a mostly male dominated field. He played guitar and we would spend quite a few late nights waxing on about our thoughts on music and philosophy. Until one night he asked about the topic in which I write and investigate. I told him its just part of my structure, always has been. I wasn’t born like other girls , ignorant (I would think, for the far better) of the side of paranormal and preternatural. That world existed in a very real and tangible way for me my whole life. Strange as that is, nonetheless, many people now find my work and especially work of people I can proudly and amazingly call my friends today. People I’ve gone out into the field with like Linda Godfrey, people I’ve wrapped with about writing like Nick Redfern, and of course my dear friend and mentor JC Johnson of Crypto Four Corners International, of whose organization I am a very active part of now. His interest was peaked, and while we spoke of some of the things I was currently writing about he mentioned that he had his own very frightening and enthralling encounter. I inquired, encounter with what ? With a dogman, not even 20 minutes away from where I am writing right now. He described the story at length, being a fellow musician myself I understood on an intimate level the kind of brooding we sometimes are susceptible to when life keeps handing me unsettling surprises. Feeling that way, feeling very shaky grounded and in need of deep soul searching due to circumstances surrounding him beyond his control (I know so well how that feels) he felt the need to get away, away from people. Into the woods, armed with nothing but a fishing pole and a tent is where he went. He spent a few nights there camped on the shore of a small lake until… Until he arose one very early morning around 4 am.. he saw the fullness of the moon cast its silver net around his camp site. His mind felt unusually engaged as if his dreams were already interacting with a source yet still unknown. His thoughts forming into the shapes of questions, inquiring, who is out here beguiling my dreams ? Who is here ? He went to the edge of the forest about ten yards away to relieve himself. Still unable to shake a very clear defined feeling of someone or something being there with him, COMMUNICATING to his very mind. He had thoughts that were not his own, in the form of a sort of greeting. He decided to dip his fishing lure into the placid lake and try to catch a fish. After an hour or so, feeling tired and fishless, he decided to go back to his tent. When he got there he discovered a skull waiting for him on his sleeping bag.. A very clean small skull. It looked to him to be a squirrel skull. Feeling a little shaken, far less than I would imagine myself to be under these circumstances, and more fueled by curiosity he sat down on his sleeping bag to await whoever it was that left this odd gift. He waited for just a short while before he heard a rustling in the reeds by the edge of the lake.. Bracing himself for what he did not know, for who he couldn’t imagine he held his gaze steady on the shore. The grass rustling, the reeds moving, there was a mental and other kind of tangible *power* preceding this creature that he could feel so strongly. Then, there were thoughts being communicated directly to him. Thoughts like ” I know how you suffer, I too, know suffering” . There were ideas that were transferred beyond the power of words that communicated that the sender was a source of immense and unimaginable physical and spiritual power. That the sender was a predator the established world as we know it could not fathom. And yet it was this very creature that left him a gift. Drawing a bead to the source of all this, he now was on edge waiting to see what this was. When the creature did emerge he saw an immense figure. Broad shoulders, far too broad for any bear or any known animal native to south east Wisconsin. 7 and a half feet tall at least, conservatively. Long arms with almost human hands and fingers sort of positioned to the front of his body. Lethal looking razor sharp nails.. Thick ropey arms with bulging biceps, a six pack stomach! Legs.. legs that were dog like, his eyes trying to make sense of what he was seeing , it was far too much to try to compute but compute he did. He saw legs that were that of a normal dogs, bent with the haunches the way they do yet standing on his hind legs he was. Perhaps the most unusual of all this was the creatures face. His face was not pronounced in the muzzle area like most of these sightings will say. His face was that of a pit bull. Preternaturally wide mouth. Teeth that protruded , the sharp canines glistening. His ears were erect yet also floppy on the top… My friend, I’ll call him Billy, was beside himself with not fear, well yes obviously some fear but it was awe that he felt the most. The thoughts now came flooding in a sea of pictures and just direct information beamed into his brain “we are kindred, I left you a gift, I know how you feel, I am a supreme being, I kill anything I want, I eat , I kill ” These are the mental abilities these creatures have. After years of research this conclusion is inevitable. While we cannot pin down any one blanket catch all answer for what exactly these things are, we can see they bear certain fruits. Supreme predation that does straddle worlds of natural and preternatural, and an ability to communicate directly to their audience without the use of words. I hope youve enjoyed this true tale, very soon, within the next couple weeks I am going to the very spot he had this encounter. I will before hand make my typical fore hand “arrangements”, to get myself ready for an ideal encounter, should it happen. To any who have questions or comments, please feel free to ask. I shall also make a video to accompany this blog entry and add it when its finished. As always God bless Jane Maya Rodriguez copyright 2017 Through use of a newly developed and invented telescope (known as a Santilli telescope) which uses a concave lens, instead of the typically used convex lens ( Galileo telescopes) has allowed scientists to observe antimatter galaxies, antimatter asteroids and antimatter cosmic rays that have been other wise unable to be detected by conventional means up until this point. According to the scientific paper published last year which I will cite on the bottom, these evidences have been observed due to the special shape of the telescopic lens itself that allows for the antimatter to be detected. The scientific paper produced also states that through the use of the telescope, that entities exist and appear to maneuver intelligently in the earths atmosphere. Then there are also discussed entities that are called Invisible Terrestrial Entities of the first kind(ITE-1) or dark ITE. These are called dark, due to the dark images left behind in the background of digital cameras attatched to the Santilli telescopes. Then there are also images gathered similarly which produce a bright image left in the background of the digital cameras, and this is evidence that points to the existence of another kind of entity that the normal convex telescopes has been unable to detect. These entities are called Invisible Terrestrial Entities of the second kind(ITE-2) or bright ITE. Dr. Ruggero Santilli is a nuclear physicist who was a visiting scholar in the department of mathematics at Harvard university. Main stream scientists sometimes refer to his work as”fringe” due to its controversial nature. We must remind ourselves that the discrediting of the geocentric model of the universe was once considered heresy. Dr. Santilli is the chief scientist and founder of the MagneGas Corporation and the Thunder Energies Corporation as well. “This is an exciting discovery. We do not know what these entities are; they’re completely invisible to our eyes, our binoculars, or traditional Galileo telescopes, but these objects are fully visible in cameras attached to our Santilli telescope,” stated Dr. Ruggero Santilli, CEO Thunder Energies Corp. Ruggero Maria Santilli. Apparent Detection via New Telescopes with Concave Lenses of Otherwise Invisible Terrestrial Entities (ITE). American Journal of Modern Physics. Special Issue: Issue II: Foundations of Hadronic Mechanics. Vol. X, No. X, 2015, pp. XX- XX. doi: 10.11648/j.XXXX.2015XXXX.XX Jane Rodriguez Copywrite 2016 Quite possibly where even the night sky devoid of sun goes to become something darker- Antarctica. But unknown to many people it has been the unlikely hotbed of occult and cutting edge technology for years and perhaps even centuries. Still, many people dismiss it as a barren wasteland. Right now as I write this, the worlds largest telescope is nestled amongst the frozen glaciers gazing deep into the vast expanses. Its scanning the sky, searching for answers as to what most of the universe is comprised of: dark matter and dark energy. But perhaps the strangest curiosity is why so many world leaders over the years have been visiting this seeming island of desolation. What possibly could be drawing the political leaders of today to the frozen tundra? A brief dossier of facts will illuminate the motivation of one leader in particular who was very interested in Antarctica, a one Adolph Hitler. Antarctica has been officially regarded as being discovered in 1820 by the Russians. I say officially because there are bald faced facts that point to the discovery actually being made centuries prior. According to a map that was found that has been dated at 1513. Known as the Piri Reis map, this map shows with great accuracy the borders of the continent. A very perplexing and striking feature, aside from the date of its being made, is that the cartographer depicted the continent as being non-frozen. . The map itself was drawn on gazelle skin, Piri Reis was a famous admiral of the Turkish fleet in the 16th Century. Not only being an admiral, his passions extended further than that of official naval admiral business would normally confine a man and included the science and art of cartography. His high ranking military station afforded him the luxury of having access to the Imperial Library of Constantinople. Now its my understanding that a popular YouTube video has been making the rounds in cyberspace, by a one David Wilcock. The premise I’m assuming doesn’t deviate far from the title of the presentation, that being that Antarctica was once Atlantis. I’ve yet to see this presentation, but I can see just from the official letter addressed to a professor Charles Hapgood of Keene college by the U.S. air force that I just read that I will include here in my paper, that the lands topographical geography has been a point of mystery and contention for some time. That areas, if not a large portion of Antarctica was indeed ice-free for thousands of years. TO: Prof Charles H. Hapgood, Keene College Dear Professor Hapgood, Your request of evaluation of certain unusual features of the Piri Reis Antarctica map of 1513 by this organization has been reviewed.. The claim that the lower part of the map portrays the Princess Martha Coast of Queen Maud Land, Antarctic, and the Palmer Peninsular, is reasonable. We find that this is the most logical and in all probability the correct interpretation of the map. The geographical detail shown in the lower part of the map agrees very remarkably with the results of the seismic profile made across the top of the ice-cap by the Swedish-British Antarctic Expedition of 1949.This indicates the coastline had been mapped before it was covered by the ice-cap. This part of Antarctica ice free. The ice-cap in this region is now about a mile thick. We have no idea how the data on this map can be reconciled with the supposed state of geographical knowledge in 1513. Courtesy of http://www.ancientdestructions.com/piri-reis-map-of-antarctica/ This was a piece of knowledge that wasn’t so clandestine to the educated ones of our past and its assumed that around 6,000 years ago it was NOT a frozen continent, but possibly that it was a verdant one. This of course, goes against main stream science and history. In my years of reading for pleasure and hard research I’ve found that there is much hard evidence and even logic that doesn’t fit the paradigm that the establishment would like to enforce upon humanity. This evidence that’s brought forth by a multitude of scientists, historians, archaeologists, paleontologists and climatologists (re: what was once known as “global warming” was debunked for lack of evidence is now dubbed as “climate change”. Refer to the petition signed by tens of thousands of scientists who have called the thing a farce, a lie that has been inflicted on humanity as a greater means of control to levy taxes, impose restrictions on commerce and even infrastructure. Please take the time to look at this website it lists the TENS of THOUSANDS of scientists that have petitioned this lie. http://www.petitionproject.org/ But getting back to the Piri Reis map, it would be that even without mounds of research, a natural progression of logic would be http://www.petitionproject.org/ to wonder if Antarctica was the lost civilization of Atlantis that Plato wrote about so many centuries ago. For what its worth the “establishment” when it comes to archaeology, history or any science that deviates from their script that civilization started when they say it started despite the mounds of evidence that point to the fact that mankind got its start WAY earlier then they want to admit. Author, researcher Michael Cremo calls this the “knowledge filter”. It is the preponderance of evidence that points to evolution being erroneous as the fossil records show man and dinosaurs foot prints side by side, as well as man and many species of ape. There is still no “missing link”- whether it be homo sapien or any animal for that matter. So, in light with all the mystery and strangeness there is a whole galaxy of occult related and hollow earth theory related wonder. Theres so many deep occultic roots associated with the continent I haven’t yet touched that its hard to know where to start and where exactly to end. Hard for me at least, as I tend to see things from a perspective that looks at complex topics like a sphere shaped web of information. To whittle a modern day example that brought Antarctica into the world of geo-occultism and politics (did I just coin a new term ? ‘Geo-occultism’ ? ) I’m going to talk about why Hitler was so fascinated with it and made so many expeditions and finally settled on a base there. This of course does bear relevancy as to why leaders this very day are returning to the frigid land. Before I jump right into it I want to remind you that mysticism and magic and the occult is NOT, as the establishment and most media would have you believe, two separate entities. Ever since the dawning of Quantum Mechanics, when Dr. Heisenberg came along with his uncertainty principal, and other trailblazing partical physicists saw that photons and electrons can appear to be at TWO PLACES AT THE SAME TIME, modern day science has been catapulted into an arena that sounds more like metaphysics than it did the science of your parents and grandparents. “Almost 100 years ago physicists Werner Heisenberg, Max Born und Erwin Schrödinger created a new field of physics: quantum mechanics. Objects of the quantum world – according to quantum theory – no longer move along a single well-defined path. Rather, they can simultaneously take different paths and end up at different places at once. Physicists speak of quantum superposition of different paths.” – credit https://phys.org/news/2015-01-atoms.html For my next example of occult magic making its way into modern science lets visit the controversial CERN, the large hadron particle accelerator located in Switzerland. Looking for what scientists at CERN call “unknown unknowns” – for instance “an extra dimension”.”Out of this door might come something, or we might send something through it,” said Sergio Bertolucci, who is Director for Research and Scientific Computing at CERN. Other scientists at CERN have spoken openly about the occult ties the program has. The fact is that there are layers of ritual and magic associated with the entire project, from the location ( Ancient site of ritual sacrifice for ABADDON (aka APOLLYON) , it being shaped as a giant key (refer back to the quote Bertolucci made about bringing something in from another dimension). The significance in it being shaped like a key relates directly to a verse in the book of Revelation 9:11- Their king is the angel from the bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon—the Destroyer.” Did I mention that in front of the building , CERN at the entrance sits a large statue of the hindu god Shiva who is the god of destruction and rebirth? I would like to point out that it was the lifes work and dream for a one Alaistar Crowley to bring in entities from other dimensions, as an opposition to the lord Creator. He was the predecessor and teacher to Madame Blavatsky the founder of the Theosophic society who was the woman with the idea matrix which helped develop the The Third Reich ! Yes for any who don’t know who are reading this the Third Reich was one part politics, one part occult, one part science. This is not my opinion or speculation, in fact NONE of what I just said about CERN is either. This is the modern world we are living in ladies and gentleman and that modern world is thus: Science and magic are merging and the modern age is like an attempted revival of the “golden age” of yore. The ultimate end game being that “gods” will once again walk with us and rule over us and the super elite will be the, for lack of better terms “leader monkeys” for the rest of us schmucks. The nephelim, the giants the TITANS of yore are a real thing and the elite know this and have known this for some time and this is the root and heart of the games this world place in terms of geo politics. One of the greatest tricks Satan ever pulled on humanity is convincing them he doesn’t exist. So, to circle back around to the heart topic, being Antarctica, let me give you a bolus of facts that support my claim. As you know conventional history says that Russia discovered Antarctica, despite all the evidence that it was discovered centuries prior. This is just something the establishment does, cover up undeniable facts, proof and evidence that opposes its paradigm. Antarctica was largely regarded as useless until the Germans became preoccupied with it. He sent convoys to survey the land from an aerial perspective and it was noticed by American intelligence the length of the visits and the reports from American spies how scientists had gone there and had not been reported back to Germany or found dead. Hitler dubbed the continent “New Shwabia”. The scientists and military commanders sent to recon the sight had reported back to Hitler that Antarctica was an “impenetrable fortress”. Why it was described as thus has now recently come to light. It has been said that under the ice, there were underground lakes, and the air that flowed over the lakes was a balmy 64 degrees farenheit. Warm water constantly flows into the area, creating a warm environment inside deep caverns found in Antarctica. These warm rivers then make underground ice tunnels. Perfect for constructing a deep underground network. With submarines being able to enter from the coast, it had indeed become a stupendous fortress far away from all the other continents of earth. This base was given the nazi codename “Base 211”. So, in 1946 the US Navy sent admiral Byrd to recon and even destroy any evidence of a Nazi base in Antarctica, and was given the secret and now well known name “Project Highjump” I should also make mention that Argentine intel also corroborated alarming news regarding Antarcticas developing Nazi bases. It was reported that Admiral Byrd reported strange flying saucers that emerged from the waters of Antarctica at astonishing speeds that actually caused physical damage to the expedition. (I recommend reader to look up Byrds diary regarding also the ‘hollow earth’) On February 26 1947, it was reported a battle took place a note about it made by an experienced pilot and member of the expedition John Sireson wrote : “they flew vertically out of the water in a fury slipping between the masts of the ships at such high speed, that the air flow perturbed and dislodged the radio antennae. “I didn’t have time to blink an eye”, he wrote “The two corsair from Casablanca were SLAIN by some sort of mysterious ray shot from the nose section of the flying saucers, then diving back into the waters” I didn’t understand..they were like satanic beasts spitting deadly fire. Suddenly I saw the destroyer ‘Murdoch’ which was about 120 feet away. The flames flashed and the ship began to sink. Despite the danger rescue teams and life boats were immediately dispatched to the disaster site from other ships, the nightmare lasted about 20 minutes. When the saucers again dived under the waters we then began evaluating our losses. They were terrifying – (reminds me of the lectures a late Philip Schneider used to make about DULCE underground base) implies that this kind of technology was around BEFORE the discovery made by Nazis and certainly the us . Consider the leaps and bounds of USA rocketry after project paperclip . Shifting gears again, and speculating here but perhaps Hitlers sudden interest in it had to do with the satanic witchery Helena Blavatsky and her predecessor, Crowley were up to. Would it really be that far of a stretch to think that they were perhaps given a kind of demonic council, giving them supernatural knowledge that would help Hitlers Reich? After all, Satan seeks to establish his kingdom on earthin a very physical manner, and just as he tempted Jesus in the desert Matthew4:7-8 :7Jesus replied, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test. 8Again, the devil tookHim to a very high mountain and showed Him allthe kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9“All this I will give You,” he said, “if You will fall down and worship me. I say this with all seriousness because of one of the fundamental philosophical pillars of Hitlers Reich was the Ahnenerbe. The Ahnenerbe was the occultic-scientific group founded by Heinrich Himmler, Hitlers leading military commander. So you see, regardless of whether or not you believe in this magical “hocus pocus”, this world leader sure did. Guess what, other world leaders still do. In fact it would behoove you to look into Bohemian Grove and see what kind of occult rituals go on there and who were/are members (Former U.S. Presidents William Howard Taft, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr. and Jr. Most of Bush administration’s top officials, such as Colin Powell, California Governor Pete Wilson, the mayors of Los Angeles, San Francisco and other major cities; astronauts Wally Schirra and Frank Borman; former FBI and CIA directors; former Secretaries of State George Schultz and Henry Kissinger; international bankers; heads of big oil companies (ARCO, Mobil, Pennzoil, Texaco), from corporate CEO’s to literary greats Mark Twain. I have to admit it was a disappointment to see the name Ambrose Bierce) The Ahnenrbe Ahnenerbe‘, meaning “inherited from the forefathers.” The official mission of the Ahnenerbe was to find new evidence of the racial superiority of the Germanic people through historical, anthropological, and archaeological research. Formally, the group was called the Studiengesellschaft für Geistesurgeschichte‚ Deutsches Ahnenerbe – ‘Study Society for Primordial Intellectual history, German Ancestral Heritage’, but it was renamed in 1937 as the Forschungs- und Lehrgemeinschaft das Ahnenerbe – (Research and Teaching Community of the Ancestral Heritage). Many of their interests extended beyond science into occultism. |Richard Walter Darré| This led to German scientists travelling around the world in search of Atlantis and the Holy Grail, and it is reported that the Ahnenerbe sought “portals” to God. Growing out of the Ahnenerbe-SS, the Thule Gesellschaft and the general Nazi interest in the occult, was ‘Karotechia’ (see below) – a secret organization dedicated to the research and use of occult forces for the Third Reich. Hermann Wirth (see left) was a Dutch historian obsessed with Atlantean mythology, and Richard Walter Darré (see right) was the creator of National Socialist ‘Blut und Boden’ (blood and soil) ideology, and was head of the Race and Settlement Office).- credit http://thirdreichocculthistory.blogspot.com/2014/03/die-deutsche-ahnenerbe.html 2017 So you see in light of continuously new and emerging information about what portals and stargates were to the ancient people and what it has to do with modern man and their increasing interaction with cryptids like bigfoot and dogmen, you can see how dots begin to connect. Vril, is also another term for the superiority of the comning race. The old testiment calls them Nephilim, Greeks called them Titans, and Sumerians called them Annunaki. Make no mistake they are the fallen angels that were cast down with Lucifer and are the things that began making their genetic manipulations described in the book of Enoch and in Genesis 6:8. Enoch : CHAPTER VI. - And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. 2. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: ‘Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.’ 3. And Semjâzâ, who was their leader, said unto them: ‘I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.’ 4. And they all answered him and said: ‘Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.’ 5. Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. 6. And they were in all two hundred; who descended ⌈in the days⌉ of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. 7. And these are the names of their leaders: Sêmîazâz, their leader, Arâkîba, Râmêêl, Kôkabîêl, Tâmîêl, Râmîêl, Dânêl, Êzêqêêl, Barâqîjâl, Asâêl, Armârôs, Batârêl, Anânêl, Zaqîêl, Samsâpêêl, Satarêl, Tûrêl, Jômjâêl, Sariêl. 8. These are their chiefs of tens. Leaving you with that final thought, the names of the fallen themselves, I urge you reader to please look up these items yourself. There are so many things that interconnect and bear relevence I simply did not anticipate the time it would take to include them all. It’s my belief it would take several life times anyhow. We musn’t forget that it is our DUTY to make sure we understand the facts of the principals that guide this planet earth and how it relates to us individually , but also as a whole. After all it is written in our consitution that the principals of freedom depend on our vigilence to uphold the tenants that make our country a beacon to the world. Jane Rodriguez 2017 Hollywood has produced many films that deal with Satanism among the elite in America and London. The film starring Johnny Depp comes to mind called the Ninth Gate, based on a very good book I’ve read called The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte. The movie details a book detective who deals in books that are super ultra rare and super expensive. These are books that only a small handful or even 1-2 are left in existence and deal with all manner of topics like Alchemy, witchcraft (grimoires), etc, history art, science and the like. He is hired by a very wealthy and very influential man to find a book which shows the reader how to summon Satan. The Faustian tale ends up, with of course massive amounts of madness and destruction but also leaves the reader with that thought dangling in the back of their mind.That is, how real is this? There was a book published in the early 1990’s if not 1990, called the Franklin Cover-Up. In this book it detailed : “The shut-down of Omaha, Nebraska’s Franklin Community Federal Credit Union, raided by federal agencies in November 1988, sent shock waves all the way to Washington, D.C. $40 million was missing. The credit union’s manager: Republican Party activist Lawrence E. “Larry” King, Jr., behind whose rise to fame and riches stood powerful figures in Nebraska politics and business, and in the nation’s capital. In the face of opposition from local and state law enforcement, from the FBI, and from the powerful Omaha World-Herald newspaper, a special Franklin committee of the Nebraska Legislature launched its own probe. What looked like a financial swindle, soon exploded into a hideous tale of drugs, Iran-Contra money-laundering, a nationwide child abuse ring, and ritual murder. Nineteen months later, the legislative committee’s chief investigator died – suddenly, and violently, like more than a dozen other people linked to the Franklin case. Author John DeCamp knows the Franklin scandal from the inside. In 1990, his “DeCamp memo” first publicly named the alleged high-ranking abusers. Today, he is attorney for two of the abuse victims. Using documentation never before made public, DeCamp lays bare not only the crimes, but the cover-up – a textbook case of how dangerous the corruption of institutions of government, and the press, can be. In its sweep and in what it portends for the nation, the Franklin cover-up followed the ugly precedent of the Warren Commission.” – https://www.amazon.com/Franklin-Cover-up-Satanism-Murder-Nebraska/dp/0963215809 This is how art continues to mimic life. Because this is no fiction, what the Franklin Cover-up details. One of my most favorite fictional series to have ever come out was on HBO and called True Detective. Season one is by far the best season and deals with an odd-couple pair of detectives Rust Cohl and Martin Hart (played by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson respectively). Rust Cohl is a character that resonates very strongly with me personally. He is what he calls himself a realist, who is actually what most people would call a pessimist. Eternally asking nagging questions , that nag ( to me ) because of their sharp edged cutting truth..he provides answers that leave mankind looking like a bunch of self deluding arrogant viruses operating on a form of delusion. He describes this delusion as an accident of evolution, this self awareness, this impression that all this creation was made for us. This delusion, this programming only feeds on itself by piling on one lie on the next, that “tomorrow” will provide some kind of fulfillment, some kind of satiation to our longing. He believed there is nothing. He also lost his two year old little girl, and its obvious that the pain of losing his child has left him with nothing. Who can blame him , really? Anybody who’s had their soul crushed, any body who has felt like theyve been whittled down to one tiny little nub can certainly relate to this feeling. Anyway, him and Martin have been in charge of an occult style ritual murder. Spoiler alert: Later on in the series they are able to tie together a string of missing children to governors and charter school creators and CHURCH leaders to the child kidnapping, satanism and murder. Again,what we have here is not reality mimicking hollywood.. its hollywood mimicking reality. I had read once,a decade and a half ago that the high occult has a practice of announcing their ritual to the public, that it is part of the ritual and magic itself to tell people what theyre doing. This explains the many many blatant symbols in our culture. This also is called *predictive programming* . Predictive programming is the act of announcing what they,the elite are going to do to the herd by way of entertainment. Be it movie, book or series. There were many cases of 9/11 predictive programming from the Simpsons to X Files. Here is an excellent link which goes over the topic very well : http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/sociopol_mediacontrol66.htm I know I am taking a very long route to get to my ultimate point here. That point is that there are many among us who are under the impression that the Pizza Gate scandal is an uncovering of a new thing. It most certainly is not. To make a very long and complicated case study very short, this type of thing has been happening for a VERY long time. Familiarize yourself with the ELITE of antiquity. Every single major society and empire engaged in ritual child abuse and sacrifice. All of them. For example in what people call now the non-entity “Palestine” in the bible “North Mesopotamian texts of the tenth-seventh centuries B.C.E. signify the burnt offering of male children in honor of the god Hadad. A Syrian inscription indicates that people burnt their children for the gods Adrammelech and Anammelech. The Hebrew Bible abundantly attests that the burnt offering of children was current in early Palestinian religion (Lev. 20:2; Deut. 12:31; 2 Ki. 16:3; 17:31; 23:10; Jer. 7:30-32; 19:3-5; Ezek. 16:20-21)” – Taken from http://christ.org.tw/bible_and_theology/Bible/Burnt_Offering_of_Children.htm The article goes on:” For instance, Jeremiah, an Israelite prophet, mentioned many times that Israelites have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in fire as offerings to Baal (Jer. 19:5). A title page engraving from the Mishnah, the commentary written by rabbis, shows a boy about to be sacrificed by fire to Molech as an illustration for the tractate. “ These aren’t a bunch of wild uneducated powerless savages engaging in this horrendous murder, these are the rulers of kingdoms. Consider in the book of Matthew what Satan said to Christ about gaining power over the kingdoms of this world : Matthew 4:8-9 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Take this into consideration and apply this to what actually has been happening since the beginning of time and whats going on now will begin to make sense. Ive spent over half my life piecing these things together and it couldnt be more clear to me that things are coming to a culmination. There is a quickening of world events and information as the dividing line between good and evil becomes more and more crystal clear. I remember writing in my journal as a teenager back in 1997-98 or so, things that didnt quite make sense then, but I knew in my spirit were true. I wrote ” The ancient gods will come back in my lifetime, good and evil will be clear, everyone will have to decide where they stand.” Is this time approaching ? I believe the latter is here. A person no longer has an excuse not to know. This time we live in, with the information of the world archived and available on a mobile cellphone makes research possible. I pray that we all search within ourselves but ultimately to God to show us what we are to do , when staring down the eyes of a society, of rulers of a kingdom that murder children for their occult purposes. Even if you don’t believe in any of it, that its all a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, the fact still remains that the rulers of the world have never stopped believing in it. Not ever since the first kingdom was ever created that didn’t worship the one true God. Jane Rodriguez copy write 2017 Vic Cundiff is a very personable man, who seems to genuinely care about those who share their stories on his show Dogman Encounters. His kind manner and understanding nature is an encouragement that benefits the one who shares their story and the show itself. He gave me tips on how to handle the memory of something that scared me that frankly, can come in use to other traumatic experiences I’ve had in my life. Last month I shared my multi-cryptid encounter I had in northern Minnesota with Crypto Four Corners JC Johnson, JD Johnson, Ron Shaw and myself.These encounters happened only three months ago in September of 2016. Here’s the link: I remember seeing the ads for the movie Dr Strange with my daughter while in the theater to see something else. We both looked at each other and said simultaneous ” I wanna see that!” I’m a pretty good judge of whether I’ll like something based off the things they decide to feature on their commercial for their film. It had the same woman actor that played the Archangel Gabriel in Constantin, bald and monk-like, and I could tell then and there it was a type-cast situation. Which is completely fine. The ad looked very ” Alice Through the Looking Glass”, a concept I love. The very notion of alternate realities has appealed to me on a fundamental level since I was a child. Its an idea which I understand the implications I have very limited view on and very limited understanding of, but to me that’s part of my admiration for the beauty and elegance of the Creators existence! Exploring Reality is the name of my blog, after all. You get the idea. (; I was always innately comfortable with the idea of reality being much more than what the five physical senses can detect. More than what matter we can perceive with our eyes. I have always believed and KNOWN that I could create my own reality. That it always originated with a thought and intention. That is how any physical action is taken place after all, isn’t it ? That is the simple truth the movie I took my daughters to see was presenting to the audience. Its not me, I am not some gifted person, I just am lucky to retain that childhood sense of wonder.. and theres a bit of faith involved too. After all the movie is rather Faustian at its start. You see a brilliant neuro surgeon who is so far beyond his peers in terms of his ability to quickly make decisions, determine best treatment and to execute his treatment with his own two hands with a level of precision and care that a machine that they would normally rely upon for certain procedures would lack. So, like Faust, this brilliant physicican rightly asks the question, “who is like me, hm? Who is my equal and who is my peer.” He was right to be proud, he had the stuff to back it up. His ego (which was warranted) was the lynch pin of the whole movie. Beyond all the true and real references to actual magical grimoires like the key of Solomon. It had all the real and true references to the astral body, the real definition of magic, etc..none of that would matter if he did not surrender his ego first. That is why it is written “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, then for a rich man to see the kingdom of God”. The ego is the single most important part of the free will process , I believe. If you have read my other blog entries I’ve discussed the pride involved in Satans fall, how scores of angels also fell with him, when “their eyes were opened” See its one thing, if a mediocre mind and a feeble body has an inflated ego, we find it amusing, and somewhat pitiful, as an observer.. labeling the person as a little lord fontleroy, like a little yapping Chihuahua that imagines himself to be a big tough German Shepherd. It’s another thing entirely when the ego is hinged upon the fact that the person is genius, a master. When a person whom I describe in the latter situation is forced into a situation where they no longer have control , say from a life threatening illness or injury incurred upon them, or worse their children they must face up to the facts that their abilities, their mental processing power, their creativity has limitations. These abilities that they have, all the mental prowess, all of the beauty means jack shit in that moment because life itself is threatened and they have no control ovr the processes of life and death.. or even fate itself. So, in that moment, being human is clearly defined. We are given a choice of the ages, we are just like the angels. We can choose to surrender to God, or we can clench down even further into rigidity and stubbornness. This is the key to understanding, it is a fundamental principal that children understand but men and women with pride will fail to see and will thus stunt their growth. They wont even know, they will convince themselves more and more that “they know it all”. They will see through a glass darkly still relying upon their limited perceptions to contend with the world. They don’t get that when they do that theyre forcing all of existence into a tiny little pinhole viewfinder. They are cutting it off from themselves..out of pride. It was only after Dr. Strange was whittled down to nearly nothing that he became greater than he could have ever been with his own might. Pleased to announce that our Crypto Four Corners article was featured once again on Lon Stricklers Phantom and Monsters website. We have released the footage of that fateful 48 hours as well, and now you can see, from first hand witness in real time the goings on of that fascinating ordeal in which we encountered dogmen and big foot Here is the body of the Crypto Four Corners International article that was posted on Phantoms and Monsters: 48 Hours in ‘Lycan Land’ The following information is an update that references the ongoing northern Minnesota investigation conducted by JC Johnson and the Crypto Four Corners International team: By Jane Maya Rodriguez – “Hey…wanna learn a spell about gravity? Come here, lemme teach you.” These were the words that Ron Shaw said his long-time residents in the woods said to him, in a sort of honed direct-to-the-mind speak one day. These long term residents (his grandparents also encountered them) happen to be upright walking canids. Did I mention that yet? This type of communication is the upright walking canids’ Modus Operandi, as author and investigator Linda Godfrey has said again and again. She’s interviewed hundreds of witnesses and people who’ve had close encounters with them, and it adds to the mystery of these creatures. They obviously do not have the facial structure to form english human words, and since so much about these creatures bleeds the line between physical flesh & blood and incorporeal “paranormal or interdimensional” spirit-world. She’s my friend and sometimes in field research partner too, and I asked her about these mind-to-mind communications for this article and here’s what she said: “People who encounter the upright canines very often report that they felt the creatures were sending some sort of message. The messages are not in the words of human speech, most say, but get a general point across to the witness. Most are interpreted as a sort of warning. Examples I’ve heard from witnesses include: “I could jump on your car if I wanted,” and “If you tell anyone, I’ll get you.” I think this implies that they are not only secretive about their presence but rather territorial about their hunting grounds. And sometimes people say that the dogman just exuded a sense that it felt superior, as it stared with a sneering expression at them.” – Linda Godfrey 9/28/2016 The lycans Ron’s grandparents encountered in Northern Minnesota occurred shortly after they bought the property and started trapping for the DNR. This was after the war ended (WW2). Today, Ron encounters what he believes are the grandchildren of the progenitors of yore his grandparents dealt with. All the brief history can be found in our earlier articles and videos at Crypto Four Corners International: Northwood Lycans & Northwoods Lycans It’s an ongoing mystery that is reinforced on an almost daily basis with some sort of odd sighting on the property. Now, to detail my experience as it happened with JC Johnson, JD Johnson (JC’s son) and Ron and the couple other men who were with us. When we first arrived, while driving on the long access road, the September day was unusually warm for the season and I noticed that everything looked still very green and leafy from the Summer. There was a point while driving with JC that I felt an odd sensation that I can only explain as the mood of the atmosphere changed. The ambient energy of the atmosphere shifted and it was a classic eerie feeling. When we pulled into Ron’s long driveway, with JD pulled up right behind us. We all got out of our two vehicles and chatted about the terrain. And all three of us said at the same time…”did you feel that while driving in?” Ron comes out to greet us and my first impression was “Wow he’s huge!” He is a gentle giant however. He greeted us all cheerfully and I hugged him and thanked him for having us. Straight away we got into the reason we came and he pointed out that the alpha lycan female hasn’t been around lately. Ron endowed the alpha female with the name Allura, and for the sake of “keeping it real”, telling it how it is and how it goes on to this day, I’ll refer to this upright walking canid by her name. He said in so many words that he had seen neither hide nor hair of her and wondered what could be up. Regardless, we all had a feeling of excitement for what the coming days would bring for our research. JC, being my mentor and dear friend had earlier in the week given me extensive firearms training which allowed me to get my permit to carry license. For the past year, JC has been coming to Ron’s and experiencing first hand the multitudinous cryptid activity. Ron and JC’s mutual friend Bryce had arrived to Ron’s sometime earlier before we got there and JD and I made introductions with him as well. We all chatted about guns and shooting and got to know one another while making a plan for the day and evening. As the night replaced daylight we stood outside and noticed the light of the nearly full harvest moon. JD was excited to use his night vision goggles. He jokingly remarked that it never ceases to amaze people after they had a few beers. He said their reaction to the vision is always so dramatic. When I took a look through them after night completely fell around us, I could see why (we were all sober btw). The whole landscape did indeed light up day-glo green completely illuminating the dark landscape. You’ll be able to see for yourself on the footage we took. So, as soon as it was fully dark, JC immediately said “I’m going to go out there a few hundred yards to the right of the house and introduce ourselves to the furry folk who are around here, because they are here.” He looked at Bryce and Bryce eagerly accepted the invitation to accompany him and was given the flashlight. JD had the night vision goggles, and had been experimenting with rolling film through the goggles. Clever huh? JD was looking over his shoulder to see through the night vision and Ron standing to our left as we watched the two men walk the path that led to a small clearing. JC did his thing. He whooped and said HI and just ‘did his thing.’ JD and I could see the clearing where the men were calling into, when all of a sudden JD and I saw a humanoid creature, about 8-9 feet tall, standing behind a little pine tree that was no more than a foot taller than he was. I didn’t see it walk up to the point it was standing (Ron saw something big and black-moving fast), but there it was. It peering over the pine branches, looking at JC and Bryce with what looked like curiosity. JD shouted “JC you’ve got someone to your right!” Then Bryce shone the flashlight at the Sasquatch. That’s when we saw the Bigfoot change his position from our view from profile to it’ full backside. He had huge shoulders that connected to his head, with heavy trapezoid musculature. In other words, he didn’t have much of a neck. What felt like 15 minutes of just rapt awe, while looking at the timid seeming creature, military combat veteran JD, noticed other movement approaching from the right and felt that it was time to call JC and Bryce. He called them in, and they maneuvered back. We all excitedly went over the events that just occurred. I think the phrase “did you see that ?!” must have been repeated at least a couple hundred times by us that night. The adrenaline was running high, and the night completely set in with the nearly full moon in place. JD and I looked at each other and decided to do a night time reconnaissance of what we had looked at today, to hopefully catch some good footage. JD and I did conduct a day time recon around 4 pm and I had a video camera gifted to me from my mentor and friend JC. I had recorded JD talking about his experience a year prior. He took me to where he had seen footprints the previous year, as well as some structure in the forest that looked manipulated by something with hands…a place we called the OP for observation point. Obviously I don’t have to tell you that JD’s experience fighting in a war had come into major play here. He showed me these trails that led to a bluff that overlooked Ron’s house and a neighbor’s house. This area had been matted down. The tall grass that was flattened in this area…approximately 8’x 10′ in size. We had also found large canine footprints in that area as well. We did indeed go into the forest, where the structures are in place. These are not made by Bigfoot mind you…these were constructed by Dogmen (the sightings, the footprints, the OP and structures all corroborate). Click Here For Video – 48 Hours Searching through the forest for this unusual structure, perhaps a ‘lair’ or ‘hangout spot’ as JD put it, was only the beginning of the terror. Several times while we were in the thick woods, it would fall as silent as a tomb. As if every cricket, bird and all animal noises had suddenly been sucked into a vacuum. If you’re ever in the woods, and it’s a normal active warm pre-autumn day and the sun is shining and all of a sudden it goes DEAD SILENT, it’s a terrifying experience. This is when he would whisper to me “Jane, take a knee” and we would silently crouch to take in our surroundings and listen for movement. We would stay crouched until the noises of the woods returned. This happened 5-6 times. Each time I could feel my heartbeat in my throat. Each time, I was bordering on full scale panic. JD taught me though. He taught me to get a hold of myself and fight my fear. He told me things…the things that only a man who had stared the unspeakable in the eye, and then lived to talk about it. When we came back from our daytime recon, we were bristling with excitement. “This is real,” I marveled to myself. “I’m finally getting a hands on and real living color experience with what has been going on at Ron’s.” I believed all that JC and Ron had told me. But as you the reader knows, hearing about something and experiencing it are two different animals all together. When we got back to Ron’s I remember bringing the camera inside on the table…safely tucked in my TAC vest after it had run out of battery while JD and I were doing recon. So happy with the footage we captured, I gleefully set it down on the central table in Ron’s house and poured myself a tall glass of water. I’d never see that camera again. Embarrassed that I had lost my camera that I had just been gifted to me by my good friend and mentor JC, but knowing also that I set the thing down inside, I didn’t want to mention it to anyone for a little while because I hoped that it would turn up. But as the day wore on and the thing was nowhere to be found, I finally asked the guys “have you seen my brand new video recorder anywhere? I swear I put it on the table and now it’s gone.” JC looked at me and said “Jane have I ever told you about my pair of glasses that I lost out in the woods here? Six months go by, until one day Ron comes home from work to find them setting on the table, plain as day.” These are just little tidbits, small examples of the many things that happen all the time in ‘Boogeyman Land’ as JC calls it (but especially when we get together, which is a whole other article idea, but nonetheless seems to be true). JC seems to attract the attention of cryptids (as I mentioned in the Minnesota Lycans video). So, after we see the Bigfoot, and night completely washes over us JD and I look at each other and say “let’s go back out into the woods”. He grabbed an M4, and I had the pistol.. a .40 cal JC lent me to carry on Ron’s property holstered. You don’t really want to go out there unarmed. Yeah, I know I just wrote about how terrifying it was. But you can’t be an explorer, and you can’t find and capture info, if you don’t go where the action is….right? This is the time where I know my Apache genes are going into overdrive, and I’m literally being driven by my instinct to confront this lurking fear. We start driving back to the aeas we were before, and instantly activity started to happen. The full harvest moon was lighting up the forest as our eyes adjusted to the night. JD brought along the night vision goggles so we could drive without headlights. We wanted to cut through parts of the thick forest, using these ATV type trails that we had gone through four hours prior. The day had started out clear and sunny…ending clearr with no clouds in sight. When we wanted to take a trail we had just taken four hours before. But then we saw that the trail was flooded…by at least 4-6 inches of water. How did this happen? There were no hills from which the water could flow onto this trail? I started to get real scared, asking JD to turn on his headlights. He urged me to be brave and to maintain the course as he looked through the goggles. “This is what you came for Jane.” As we were driving along one of the main access trails to the woods, the moon was hanging, pouring light on this open alley of green grass between a grove of trees. In the middle of the tall poplars, I saw a large, wide canine head attached to a tall upright body, with ears that were very straight and perky. Not being able to reconcile what I just saw with any creature I’ve ever seen, it scared me badly. I couldn’t bring myself to look down at the body. It was too much for me. I looked away after looking at it for 5-8 seconds. “JD get us the hell out of here please!” He answered “Jane we are not in any clear mortal danger…let’s keep going.” It was right around then we heard a loud BANG on the back bumper. At this point I start praying to Jesus out loud, and JD said he could hear something running along with the car and breathing heavily. Some time after that initial bang on the bumper, we come to the OP point we saw earlier during the day. The same OP point he saw a year to the day ago. He is coaxing me to come out, despite what I just saw, saying that he wouldn’t have me get out of the car if it we were in clear mortal danger. I just agreed, “ok, fine. Yes you’re right let’s go” Then he shone his new flashlight out the window and it immediately flashed out, dead. “Ok, that’s not good,” he said. We look at each other and that’s when we heard another loud BANG. He depresses his foot on the gas pedal, and nothing happens, he taps it again. Nothing. The grass was bone dry and it was like in my mind the electrical systems were failing. It was then he said “Something was lifting up the back of the jeep!” He presses his foot down…thank God it worked and we drove off. Praying with my heart practically beating out of my chest, he continues to drive along with the headlights off and using the goggles. He gets this look on his face, the blood drained from it, but keeping cool he flips on the lights and says, “it’s time to get out of here now.” I didn’t want to know what he saw. With everything that happened, my brain couldn’t handle anything else without going into full-fledged panic. Praying our way out of there, while driving towards Ron’s house, we then see JC’s jeep. He said we were gone for a while and he got concerned. I was extremely shaken and I ran inside the house not knowing what to do with myself. It would take a couple hours for me to calm down. JD and I started to tell JC what happened. That would just be the beginning of our week at the Northern Minnesota ‘Lycan Land.’ JC forwarded a summary written by a Lakota man who spent a week at Ron Shaw’s property after the group left: I am a friend of JC Johnson, am American Indian (Lakota and Metis) and visited the site in question. I was raised traditionally, was trained as a medicine person (via both the Lakota and Metis elders) and am able to communicate with the Tunkashila beings (aka angelic spirits) of my peoples. However, I am not a Wicasa Wakan (holy man/medicine man). I spent one week at the location and excluding a brief tour of the site, did not engage in field work in the woods. During that time I personally experienced the following: •On the first day, the property owner and I took a tour of the general area. We were walking up a trail in a wooded location several miles from his home when we came across tracks of an animal that was quite large. The gait between tracks was about three feet. The tracks were fresh and had not been there just a few moments before when we first walked this portion of the trail. They appeared to belong to a three toed animal with splayed digits. There was a large pad behind the toes and oddly in the rear (where a heel should have been) was a elongated semi-oval indention. In one of the tracks, a piece of grass had been jammed and folded into the mud by a large toe nail. I personally removed the grass blade myself. The owner said these were tracks of the wolf-man entities being encountered on the property and that he thought the oval indention where the heel should have been was made by the unique construction of their foot/legs called digitigrade. He surmised that the creature had been crouching and was maybe 8 feet tall. This happened during daylight hours. He said he thought that the creature must have been watching us from the forest and then crossed our trail after we passed him. •On the second night. I was practicing ceremonial songs alone in the house while the owner was at work. At around 10pm, exactly as I finished the last song, I heard something suddenly begin to heavily scratch on the kitchen window. This window is about 9 feet off the ground and there are no tree nearby. The owner’s dog lying beside me heard it as well and immediately lifted its head in that direction. About 15 minutes before, the owner’s other dog had also begun growling inexplicably at something while lying in the back room. That same dog then came out to kitchen area right after the scratching event, stared intently at the kitchen window and began growling. •On the fourth night (again while alone at around 11pm) something threw an unknown object against the outside wall of the house. I was on the other side in the living room. While on site, the spirits of my people came to me via several visions and also directly, informing me that a shape-shifter cult of Ojibwa people, lead by a woman and based on the Red Lake Ojibwa Reservation, was responsible for this activity. They further informed me that this cult took the form of large bipedal wolf-men creatures that had the capacity to take on the appearance of other forms/animals to mask their appearance while as wolf-men people. In addition they told me that no one would be able to film them with video cameras (ie moving film) because of this ability. Finally, they said that this cult should be stopped because what they are doing is evil. Using this information, I began to do some research and discovered the following. (Source links are provided.) In 1952, and Anthropological study was published about the Red Lake Reservation in which it was shared that some persons in the the town of Ponemah were suspected by other tribal members of engaging in bad medicine (aka dark witchcraft). [Changes in Ojibwa Social Control, by Paula Brown. Pg 65]. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/aa.1952.54.1.02a00070/pdf In 1997, a student named Michael Angle (working towards a doctorate in Philosophy at the University of Manitoba) wrote a thesis (citing several anthropologists/scholars) in which he stated, “Creatures with great power…and individual Anishanaabe [aka Ojibwa] who received power from a powerful manitou [spirits], are believed to have the power to change the outward manifestation of their bodily shape while retaining their essential being.” [Discordant Voices, Conflicting Visions: Ojibwa and Euro-American Perspectives on the Midewiwin, by Michael R. Angle. pg. 45.] He goes on to note on the same page, a connection between a manifestation of this type of activity/tradition (shape-shifting into a bear by evil shamans) with the Metis shape-shifting tradition of the Rugarou, also known as the Loup-Garrou. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/nq23580.pdf Incidentally both Metis and Ojibwa were settled on the Red Lake Reservation, presently comprising the membership of that tribe. Lastly in 2014, an anonymous source from the Red Lake Reservation stated on an internet forum, “…THIS again. American Indian skinwalkers are medicine men with the deep spirituality of their tribal religion who are shapeshifters. I should know, I’m an American Indian from Red Lake reservation, I seen this [explicative] done before, I seen a man go into a midiwiwin (Medicine lodge) and a bird come out, with the man nowhere in sight.” https://archive.4plebs.org/x/thread/14469797/ These three references in hand, lend credibility to what the spirits told me. A shape-shifting cult with Ojibwa roots is functioning on the Red Lake Reservation. The anonymous eyewitness cited above, implies that this is done through the power of good. However, in Lakota tradition (at least among those who instructed me) it was implied that all shape-shifting can only be achieved through petitioning evil spirits (demons) to attain such an ability. In doing so, one commits a great evil. In conclusion it is my firm belief that a shape-shifting cult is most definitely operating on the Red Lake Reservation and on the property in question. This cult is evil in nature, headed by a woman and should be stopped. Please send up your prayers to God requesting that this happen and also share this information with any Ojibwas from Red Lake that you may know. Exposing this evil witchcraft plays a large role in ending it. Thank-you. I am using the pen name Lakota Joe to protect myself from retaliation via witchcraft which often happens to persons either still in training or who might one day become good medicine people. Such acts are intended to kill us before we mature, thus forever negating our ability to combat the evil of bad medicine practitioners. Courtesy of http://www.PhantomsAndMonsters 2016 http://www.phantomsandmonsters.com – Check that amazing website out.. thousands of articles on all manner of interesting topics When lucifer, the Seraphim fell from heaven, 1/3 of all heavens angels decided to follow him. Lucifer, son of the morning is a latin term. Satan is hebrew, fyi. A Seraphim is the highest ranking angel. They have direct interaction with God on his Throne, attending and worshipiing and praising and singing to the Most High “Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts” Isaiah 6:1-7. 6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Seraphim have six wings, two cover their faces, two cover their feet, and two are for flying. Here are bible verses from the Word of God that describe Satans fall from heaven and who he was to God, and in heaven before his fall. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you. … His fall is described as thus, “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. His pride being the most loathesome element to his madness, which is at the core of all our nations problems right now. This opposition to God is at The heart of the NWO, false sciences that in a conspiratorial bend refuse to acknowledge evidence of creation. Archaoelogical remains that have been dumped into the Smithsonians of giants to hide the secret of humanity which is in direct corroboration of bibliccal history (and other ancient religous history from around the world). Evolution to also remove God from the equation, that life descended from sludge… somehow DNA that is a program encoded in every living cell of ours that somehow happened to be programmed from nothing… is what Satan would have the world to believe. When satan fell, we are told that one third of an “innumerable company of angels” (Hebrews 12:22) chose to rebel with him. These are what are called now fallen angels. These are the angels described in Genesis 6:4 New International Version The Nephilim were on the earth in those days–and also afterward–when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. These “men of renown” are what the ancient Greeks called the gods. This is also referred to in the Epic of Gilgamesh. These offspring of the angelic mating with women. This tampering of Gods creation , mankind was an attempt by Satan to prevent the son of God to be born, and also a direct defiance, an attempt to become as God himself, through his imperfect creations God always wins. God found a family, Noahs who’s genetics remained pure, and when God had destroyed the world by flood to cleans these genetic tamperings from them, he spared Noahs family and from them we have descendents of the Christ who came to die for our sins. Satan lost there too. Further more, in the book of Enoch, the Book of Giants, it describes all manner of beasts in which these fallen angels tampered around with. They perverted their genetic structure too, making what we call now “cryptids” These cryptids have a different glory (animating life force) of their flesh , they are physical, yet are able to do things of super natural power. New International Version 1 Corinthians 15:39-41 Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. Right there,.. I believe sheds insight into an explanation of why these creatures are supernatural AND physical copyright 2016 JaneRodriguezblog

"Go The Eels!" Born in Parramatta in Sydney's Western suburbs, Barry “Bazza” Porter had two paranormal occurrences in his childhood that shaped his fascination with cryptids and ghosts. When six years old Barry witnessed a spirit form in his bedroom, then four years later at the age of ten, witnessed a “Doolagahl”, a Yowie, near his house. Educated in NSW, Barry is a mad Parramatta Eels NRL (rugby) Supporter, and a Christian Pastor, Barry is a part of the Christian Cryptozoology And Paranormal Study Group, a group that features members from around the globe interested in Cryptid and Paranormal events from a Christian view point, which also features such noted members as "The Paranormal Pastor" - Robin Swope. Working as a minister for the Church, Barry has experienced a great deal of paranormal phenomena, from objects moving of their own accord whilst delivering ministry, to people being choked with invisible hands which Barry describes here: “I've seen a couple of people choking from invisible hands where you can see the finger marks on their throats as you do the exorcism.” Through being a minister Barry has come cross many people needing help after having negative paranormal experiences. This led to Barry researching and investigating a number of cases in Australia, including cases at Bowen Mountain, and at a Chinese restaurant in Caringbah. Barry has seen many things in his time in the Church and as an investigator, including, Shadow People, Angelic and Demonic beings, and has been choked by unseen forces, through all of this Barry has not lost his faith, nor his positivity. When we asked what his best piece of evidence was? Barry replied “I kinda got slimed, well...my eye was slimy and half my body went numb when an apparition passed through me, but apart from moving cans and things being thrown around, nothing tangible that can be analysed like a photo or anything.” Barry also has a great sense of humour, as this reply to an interview question we asked him will attest. What is your favourite piece of equipment, and why? “ Those meter thingies..that go "whooosh" when you crack whips and there are convict spirits present....I'm not very technical.” Barry and the team at Christian Cryptozoology And Paranormal Study Group do great work in Australia, you can keep up to date with the team via their blog at: Or if you would like to learn more about Barry, you can follow this link to a 2010 interview on Eidolon Paranormal have been working with Barry, Bryony and team now for a couple of years, and have become good friends. CCAPSG is one of the most honest and thought provoking teams in the community today, even if you do not identify as a Christian, this team still has something for you, check them out today! Researched & Written By:

1938. Belgian Congo, Africa. Reginald and Margurite Lloyd were exploring the dark depths of the most remote rainforest imaginable. The noise of the jungle creatures did not dampen their fears or anxieties, if anything, it highlighted that they were surrounded by beasts, many undiscovered at the time. Whilst the two were hacking their way through thick jungle, they spotted a dark shape scuttering around the underbrush in front of them. Perhaps it was a cat or even a monkey, of some sort. They stopped to observe its movements, fascinated by a creature that looked familiar but evoked feelings much stranger than anything else they had encountered before. Suddenly, the creature moved into the light and the couple were horrified by what they saw. There, in front of them, the unsettling sight of a giant spider, spanning at least five feet in size. Terrified, the couple ran, with Margurite insisting they return home to Rhodesia at once… Lurking within the thick and nearly impenetrable jungles of remotest Africa, these enormous spiders are said to dwell. Similar in appearance to a tarantula, with the adults exhibiting a dark brown coloration and a purple mark on the abdomen, said to grow to six feet in size and perhaps more. Preying on animals such as monkeys and reptiles, trapping the helpless creatures in an intricate tapestry of webs strung between the trees. Some of the natives even claim that the J’ba Fofi has killed humans, succumbing to the venomous poison oozing from the spiders. Reports of the J’ba Fofi are littered throughout history. In the 1890s, English missionary Arthur Simes was out and about exploring the shores of Lake Malawi with a small party of fellow explorers. Around halfway through the journey, panic gripped the group as screams from further back rippled throughout the dense jungle. Fearing his friends were in trouble, Simes ran back to discover that many had become tangled in giant webs, like nothing he had ever seen before. Despite his best efforts, he could not break through the webs. Soon, two giant spiders creeped up on the group and bit several members. Simes, desperately, shot at the creatures, driving them away. But it was far too late. Soon, the bitten became feverish and delirious, their bodies swelling considerably. Death was inevitable. Naturalist and cryptozoologist William J. Gibbons was on one of his many expeditions to the Congo in search of unusual beasts when he stumbled across the tales of the J’ba Fofi. Speaking to the natives, he soon learnt that they were all too familiar with the giant spider. They claimed to have seen it regularly, and told much to Gibbons about the behaviour, life cycle and mating habits of the spider. What they most feared was that infamous venom, ‘powerful enough to drop a full grown man in seconds.’ Most interestingly, the natives told Gibbons how the J’ba Fofi was once a common sighting, but now, sightings were becoming rarer and rarer. Gibbons concluded that this was down to encroachment by human civilisation, driving the spiders out of their natural habitats. Gibbons was convinced the J’ba Fofi was real. The tribes knew so much about it and saw it as a very real and present danger. They spoke of it as a matter-of-fact, avoiding hyping the creature up as some mythical beast, instead viewing it as another creature amongst the thousands inhabiting the jungle. It is not impossible that the natives are right. At many times throughout human history, many descriptions of many animals by tribes all over the world were seen as fantastical and beyond the realms of possibilities. Gorillas and pandas just two such creatures. Yet it’s not the fact that sightings are few and far between that causes many to question the existence of such a spider, nor the lack of hard evidence. The reason why many doubt is down to physiology. For a spider to grow to the size of the J’ba Fofi, an entire five feet larger than the current largest known spider, the wonderfully named Giant Huntsman, the usual spider respiratory systems would be insufficient to keep the creature alive. Whilst giant insects and arachnids did exist millions of years ago, there was far more oxygen in the atmosphere in those days. And even then, there were no spiders of the size of the J’ba Fofi. The 12-inch Giant Huntsman and the 6 ounce 11 inch Goliath Birdeater are about as large as science believes spiders can grow. Even if the J’ba Fofi used a radically new type of respiratory system, there is still the issue of the exoskeleton. Exoskeletons are heavy things. A six-foot spider’s exoskeleton would be too heavy for it to support or even move. Scientists, once more, believe the largest a creature with an exoskeleton could grow on land is around three feet, as seen in the coconut crab. A spider of exceptional size darting throughout the jungle at immense speed is sounding ever more improbable. Others, however, say that the jungles are immense places full of plants producing immense amounts of oxygen. Perhaps that higher oxygen content could support a large spider. But still, there’s the issue of the exoskeleton. A mouse might have small and brittle bones, but the elephant has thick and sturdy bones to support its enormous frame. The only way such a creature could survive is if its skeleton was made of lighter and stronger stuff than we are aware of in the natural world. Pure speculation of course, but not impossible. It is a fact that the jungles of Africa are little explored and are largely inhospitable. Therefore, could it be true that they could harbour a creature most foul? A giant arachnid, terrorising for as long as time. Whilst the restrictions on spiders seem to be a nail in the coffin for the J’ba Fofi, one cannot discount the sightings from not only the natives, but also the intrepid explorers who ventured into the thick jungle in the search of such monsters. Plus, the alternative explanations some have offered. The answer to this mystery will, most likely, elude us forever more. Maybe one day we’ll discover it is misidentified. Or perhaps an exaggeration. Or maybe, just maybe, one day we’ll discover it is real after all. Just be sure that you aren’t the one who discovers it… So I’ll give this cryptid a 102 on my patented Cryptid-o-Meter, putting it 35th in the list of 46, with Gef the Talking Mongoose still bottom and Beast of Gévauden still holding top spot. The J’ba Fofi. A fascinating cryptid indeed. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this post. 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Thursday, September 03, 2009 Yesterday the new novel by Roland Smith arrived. I am particularly looking forward to reading it because it is the long awaited sequel to Cryptid Hunters, which basically features a hero based loosely on yours truly. If the new book is half as good as its predecessor it will be a stonker, so expect some review-type news in the next few days. Finally, what with the WW, my birthday, computer shenanigans, health problems, and other stuff with which I shall not bore you; I have had a lot on my plate in the last month. This means that I have not been as attentive to my mail as I should have been. So, if you have written to me and not had a reply (like I am mortified to admit that young Harriet Wadham did last week) then please forgive me.... I am just under half way through reconstituting Andy Roberts's book, Naomi (bless her) has finished the first proof on Richard's Japanese book, and Lizzy (bless her) has finished Nick Molloy's, and is just starting work on Carl Portman's. So we are running late, but just about holding our own. As you know, Oll has been working on the archiving project since early February, and he is now working on the BHM section. This 3rd trenche is mostly bigfoot stories from the United States in the mid 1990s, which were - by the way - originally from the collection of Craig from the long defunct Crypto Chronicle I have just returned from a meeting in the local history society in the area of Copenhagen where I live. All very good fun but as always, the interesting things happened afterwards. I started chatting to a 92-year-old guy about strange animals and as always, when I meet new people, asked him if he had seen any strange critters or heard stories about them. The answer was no but then he asked me if I had heard about rat kings; those strange groups of rat, all stuck to each other by their entangled tails. I acknowledged that I knew what he was talking about and then he started telling me about his childhood in Reersø, a small peninsula on the west coast of the island of Zealand, where Copenhagen is located on the west coast. Apparently he and several of his friends knew how to make rat kings. At that time rats were common - brown as well as black rats - and it was considered almost the duty of any boy to kill and torment as many rats as possible. Every now and then they would catch a number of rats and tie their tails together, and have fun watching the animals trying to break free of each other. Sometimes they would get bored of their game and kill the animals with sticks or stones but every now and then they would just leave them. And in every case - or so he claimed - the rats just lived on, probably because the other rats fed them. In most cases they just ignored them, but in one case he told me he found one of these rat bundles in a cellar, caught them and decided to have a closer look. It turned out that the string they had originally used, had rotted completely away, and the tails were just glued together by dirt, blood, food remains, dried faeces and so on. Could it be that some rat kings are actually man-made? In August Jon Downes hosted The Weird Weekend 2009, where people from all over the world gathered for a weekend of weirdness, packed full of lectures on Atlantis, Big Grey Men of Ben Macdhui, and many other interesting subjects. Now me being ten years of age, I attended the ‘Bigfoot for kids’ lecture, which was held by Paul Vella. It gave me an inspiration to write a book about Bigfoot when I’m older. But then again, I have got about a billion stories running at the moment (at the same time!!), so it might have to wait for quite a while. The whole lecture was really very interesting; we were granted permission to handle Bigfoot footprints and Paul showed us a famous film of Bigfoot that two men called Roger Patterson and Gimlin captured while on a hunt for one. Patterson and Gimlin were on horseback when they spotted the creature, but Patterson’s horse got a bit frightened and backed away. Patterson hopped off his horse, and began to film Bigfoot. Bigfoot started to get further away, so as we didn’t have zoom lenses on cameras in those days, he had to run after it, which made the film very shaky. Now if it had been a person in a gorilla costume – which is highly improbable - it would have had to be "A very good gorilla costume, because if you look closely, you can see that there are calf muscles on the legs." Personally, the part of the lecture I enjoyed the most is the part I’ve just gone on about - The Bigfoot film. I was intrigued by the film to do a talk about Bigfoot at the next Bugfest that my parents organise. I hope that I can, anyway. Here is frame 352 from the film of Bigfoot. In fact, I would definitely go back to the Weird Weekend next year; then again, Mum is already thinking about going back, so I’m guessing I’ve got to! But that’s a good thing, because I enjoyed it IMMENSELY!! I even had my first taste of... CHEESY CHIPS!! They were absolutely scrumdiddlyumptious (As the B.F.G would say)! You can see my monster book in the bottom right corner, behind the flowers. You’ll read about it in a second. All the lectures were interesting and jam-packed full of information, with lots of slideshows to go with them. The highlight of my whole weekend was probably meeting an author (Neil Arnold) and getting a book signed (MONSTER! The A-Z of Zooform Phenomena). Then Mum told me that I’d met lots of authors already, but without knowing it! Of course that had made my day, getting a book signed and meeting lots of authors - even though it was obliviously - but I was also happy that I had made new friends, and had so much fun at the Weird Weekend 2009. Adam Davies, Dr Chris Clark, Dave Archer and myself will be spending two weeks in the jungle in search of the orang-pendek. Past expeditions have concentrated on Gunung Tuju (the lake of seven peaks) in Kerinchi National Park. This time the better part of the expedition will be spent with the Kubu people in the lowland jungles. Back in 2004 Chris and I spent a day with these people and Nylam their chief. The Kubu are the original inhabitants of Sumatra. The modern Indonesians arrived relatively recently from Malaya. They are far taller and more slender than the average Sumatran. They have oriental features but the men have curly hair almost like Africans. Until recently the Kubu lived totally wild in the jungle. Now they have houses but still spend months on end in the deep rainforest. Nylam told us of his own encounter with an orang-pendek a few years back. He and his warriors had also seen ten-metre-long serpents that they described as having horns like an ox! We will be working with the Kubu to search for orang-pendek and the horned serpents (the Kubu call them 'Nagas'). Apparently there have been a number of sightings of the short man in the area recently. We intend to make our HQ in the ‘garden’; a semi cultivated area that abuts the true jungle. We hope to record some of their culture and folklore as next to nothing has been written on Kubu beliefs. Towards the end of the trip we will return to Gunung Tuju where the creature has also been seen recently. They say three's the charm and third time lucky so keep your fingers crossed! OK, I’m back, and it's time for a spot of news: Seems the songs have to be in the right mon-‘key’….

The small town of Taylor, Mississippi has reportedly been terrorized by a mysterious creature which some believe may possibly be Bigfoot. There have recently been many strange noises reported and even animal mutilations leading to an ongoing investigation by local authorities. There are many theories about what may be responsible, but many locals believe a cryptid known as the “Swamp Booger” is to blame. Many others believe that a Bigfoot may inhabit this area and could easily be responsible for the weird activity. A local news channel takes a closer look into the mysterious events surrounding this small community. A local resident claimed to have gotten a photo of the creature which is featured in the news story along with some interesting interviews. It’s an interesting photo, although it is hard to determine what type of creature it may actually be. Could this possibly be proof of a Mississippi Bigfoot or perhaps even the mysterious Mississippi Swamp Booger which many believe to be nothing more than myth and legend. Check out the news report and decide for yourself what, if anything is terrorizing this small town.

|Tuesday, 2017-12-12, 11:01 PM All in a Tuff of Hair - Latest DNA Proof All if a Tuff of Hair - Latest DNA Proof The recent find of Yeti hair, two of them 33mm and 43mm long, from India that were taken to England has caused a lot of discussion. The hairs were found in Goro Hils in the North eastern region of India. This region is heavily forested and could readily support some form of hominid. The creature was additionally observed in the area over 3 consecutive days in 2003. The initial examination of the hair has turned up indecisive results, with the hair being labelled as coming from no known animal. The hair evidently has a similar cuticle pattern to the hairs Sir Edmund Hillary brought back to England in 1960. These examples were from an alleged Yeti scalp that Sir Edmund was allowed to return to England with from a Sherpa Temple in Khumjung Gompa. The hairs were found to be from a Serow Antelope - Capricornis thar, Sir Edmund knew of this possibility at the time as the scalp was used for ritualistic purposes, but chose to have it tested anyway to shed any doubt. Further testing will be done on the new specimens, which apparently have a similar cuticle pattern to Sir Edmunds hairs but show dissimilarities. The hair microscopically shows slight similarities to Human, Orangutan and the Hillary Serow hairs so further investigation has been justified. Once DNA testing has been completed it will narrow down exactly which species this creature belongs to and what its closet relatives are. If this does turn out to be some species of ape it will furnish the Holy Grail to substantiating these creatures actually exist. One cryptid species which was substantiated in this way was the New Zealand Moose; hair samples were DNA investigated and proved these creatures do indeed reside in the Fiordland area in spite of the regions dense bush making visual searches for the animals unachievable. This is not the only case where DNA is being used in the hunt for a cryptozoological mystery. Recently, the Centre for Fortean Zoology mounted an expedition to the Karbadino Balkaria in Southern Russia to search for the Almasty. They have returned with hair, faeces, and possible finger bones, all awaiting DNA examination. With the use of DNA testing each new sample collected closes the noose on the likelihood that these creatures do actually exist and their official scientific discovery. Total online: 1

Variations: Bachi-hebi, Gigi-hebi, Koro, Koro-hebi, Nozuchi, Tsuchi-korobi The Tsuchinoko (“child of the earth” or “mallet child”) is a snake native to Japan. Its primary characteristics are its unusual stocky appearance and its secretiveness. Sightings of tsuchinoko go at least as far back as 1807, in the Edo Period. A tsuchinoko is easily recognized by its fat, dorsoventrally flattened appearance, reminiscent of a beer bottle, mallet, or pestle (tsuchi). It is this feature that has earned it its name, as well as the alternate name of nozuchi (“field mallet”). It is known as bachi-hebi and gigi-hebi in Akita Prefecture, koro and koro-hebi in Fukui Prefecture, and tsuchi-korobi in Tottori Prefecture. While rare and hard to find, the tsuchinoko is believed to be venomous. It can get around by rolling, as observed by witnesses; when spotted, it laughs and vanishes in a flash of light, causing the onlookers to fall ill. When angered, a tsuchinoko will hiss, spit, and even jump at its pursuer before biting with its fangs. Recent years have greatly added to the tsuchinoko’s reputation, as reports of sightings have led to its promotion into a full-blown cryptid. The 2000 discovery of an alleged tsuchinoko skeleton in Yoshii, Okayama Prefecture, firmly cemented the snake’s existence in popular culture. The true identity of tsuchinoko sightings are possibly the venomous yamakagashi (Rhabdophis tigrinus) or the dangerously venomous mamushi (Gloydius blomhoffi). The latter has caused human fatalities, and therefore any potential tsuchinokos should be treated with respect and given a wide berth. Foster, M. D. (2009) Pandemonium and Parade: Japanese Monsters and the Culture of Yokai. University of California Press, Berkeley. Foster, M. D. (2015) The Book of Yokai. University of California Press, Berkeley. O’Shea, M. (2005) Venomous Snakes of the World. New Holland Publishers, London.

The search for the truth begins! Crytpid Codex is an all new card game for 2 to 6 players. Use your skills and resources to hunt down and capture elusive creatures known as cryptids! Find and capture vampires, Bandshees, werewolves, the loch Mess monster, aliens, bigfoot and more! Beware, however, other players will try and keep you from being the one to capture monsters and grab the glory for themselves! There are also Hoax monsters that can ruin your day! The game takes only minutes to learn and is suitable for both casual and competitive gamers! Cryptid Codex is a complete standalone game. Only one deck is needed for up to 6 players. 2 Hoax monsters 48 capture cards 2 in stock Assimilation: Exclusives Pack These special cards were available at various Ringtail Cafe related events, available now for your collection. Create new drones as the dreaded Parition Zero, be the White Knight and bring someone back to life. Manipulate other players as Code Monkeys, … Continued The Confectionaries: Holiday! Assimilation: Core Deck Assimilation is a party game for a medium to large group of people. Play as a citizen, drone, or special character who can use special abilities to help or hinder the search Item cards add to the chaos and fun! Each round you have a chance to find and eliminate the Drones but be careful you can eliminate normal citizens too! If all the citizens are eliminated you lose. Accuse. Eliminate. Win. **NOTES** Assimilation is a complete game with enough components for up to 25 players. Additional decks are NOT required. If you purchase the Assimilation Core Deck, you will receive the Exclusive Cards pack for FREE!

Last night the sky was filled with swirling masses of swollen colorful clouds waiting to release their rain. I couldn’t stop taking photographs. We went to a place on the Ohio River called the Cabana on the River. I love venues with live music located on the river. Although it was an hour drive, I enjoyed talking with friends, taking lots of photos, and dancing to one of my favorite local bands…Danny Frazier Band! This bartender is a cutie… The sky unleashed a few times. We had a table outside and luckily were on a wait list for a table inside because just as it started to rain our buzzer went off. We arrived around 7pm to have a bite to eat before the band started at 8pm and I was surprised at how many families with children were there. As we waited to see if the band would be able to play because of the weather, I took advantage of admiring the beautiful sunset! I noticed this little flag taped to the fence… The artificial palm trees were quite pretty against the night sky… The band was finally able to start playing close to 10pm. There’s my friend Cindy watching them… I had a nice surprise right before leaving. My cousin Kim and her husband Mike came up to me as we were preparing to leave. I rarely see them because they have eight children…yes…that’s not a typo! Tonight will be another fun evening…my friends Sherry, Jim and Cindy are coming over for dinner! Hope you have a fantastic weekend!! - Stormy, stormy nights (fennelljenny.wordpress.com) - Summer Rain (jen1solis.wordpress.com) - Diary of a Band Member: Five Things Every Band Must Do (savoo.co.uk) - Four Seasons Marina (travelspirit333.com) - Classic Cryptid: The Legend of the Loveland Frogmen (noncoe.com) - Tourists in Our Own City- Just Ducky Tours (rutheh.com)

If You Think Museums Are Boring, These 10 Unusual Museums Will Prove You Wrong If you’re like me, when you visit a new city you make a stop at the local museum to see what they have to offer. It’s a great way to soak in the culture, and it gives you something to do instead of hitting the bars at an ungodly hour. But if the typical science or history museum isn’t exciting enough for you, you might need to find a spot that really gets your blood pumping. Here are some of the strangest, creepiest, and sometimes most hilarious little museums in the country. 1. Museum of Sex in New York, NY Despite featuring reams of pornography displayed on its walls, the Museum of Sex in Manhattan is allowed within the 500 feet of church institutions not granted to strip clubs and porn stores. The current hot exhibits at the popular adults-only museum include Sex Among the Lotus: 2500 Years of Chinese Erotic Obsession and GET OFF: Exploring the Pleasure Principles. 2. International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, ME We all know the cryptid classics such as Big Foot, the Loch Ness monster, and the Yeti, but this museum also features regional hits like Dover Demon, the Montauk Monster, the Jersey Devil, skunk apes, and even some relatively unknowns like “giant beavers.” 3. Museum of Death in Los Angeles, CA This LA museum’s cheerful slogan is “make people happy to be alive,” and proceeds to do so by showing them a variety of historical items related to death. They’ve got baby coffins, taxidermy animals, artwork from serial killers, a recreation of the Heaven’s Gate mass suicide (featuring the original beds), and even the severed head of serial killer Henri “Bluebeard” Landru! 4. Vent Haven Museum in Fort Mitchell, KY Claiming to be the “only museum in the world dedicated to the art of ventriloquism,” this museum features a lot of heavy hitters in the dummy world, such as Charlie McCarthy, Cecil Wigglenose, and Jacko. Don’t know who these guys are? Then you probably had a very sane childhood. 5. Warren Anatomical Museum in Boston, MA Inside Harvard’s Medical School lies this 15,000-item collection of strange anatomical specimens, including the skull of Phineas Gage, the railroad worker remembered for receiving an iron rod through his head and surviving. 6. House on the Rock in Dodgeville, WI Designed by the mysterious and eccentric architect Alex Jordan Jr., this labyrinth of weirdness features, among other things, a large collection of Santa Claus figures, a 200-foot model of a sea monster, and the world’s largest indoor carousel. 7. UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell, NM No one does extraterrestrial speculation quite like Roswell. This museum may be light on the actual facts, but it’s heavy on the fog machines and memorabilia from the famous 1947 “crash.” 8. The Warren’s Occult Museum in Monroe, CT Ed and Lorraine Warren, the famous investigators of the Amityville haunting opened up their own paranormal-themed museum in the back of their Connecticut home. It features shrunken heads, vampire coffins, and the cursed doll Annabelle herself. 9. Porter Sculpture Park in Montrose, SD Using scrap metal from old railroads and antique farm equipment, Wayne Porter built several absolutely bizarre sculptures way out in the middle of nowhere. Among them are dragons, a giant bowl of fish, and an ox head approximately the size of one of the Rushmore heads. 10. Meguro Parasitological Museum in Tokyo, Japan Immerse yourself in 45,000 different specimens of parasites, including the world’s longest tape worm, stretching nearly 29 feet long! There you have it, the least pretentious museums in the country! They’re all admittedly off-putting, but somehow less disgusting than when the MET asks you for a $20 donation.

Why I Can’t Get Enough of the Sasquatch Mystery, What It Reveals about the Human Condition, and Why I Believe * * * There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. –Hamlet, Act I, Scene 5 On September 24, 2011, about 30 minutes until dark, I wheeled into the Double Lake Recreation Area inside Sam Houston National Forest in East Texas. My 9-year-old son and I were about to head out and camp on the Lone Star Hiking Trail when the park host stopped us to explain that there was no camping out on the trail because of the extreme drought and a burn ban that was in effect. Then we heard it. It sounded like a very loud, whooping howl, echoing across the dry lake bed from a half mile or so to the east. I looked at Andrew and smiled. I didn’t want to lead the park host, so I asked innocently but incredulously, “What’s that?!” “Probably a coyote,” he responded. I’ve heard plenty of coyotes, and whatever this was, it wasn’t a coyote, as their typical call is at least an octave higher. Neither was it a wolf, which, if it were, would be just about as notable as a cryptid. Neither do I think it was an owl; one can easily tell the difference between a soft sound made at close range and a very loud sound made at a very great distance, and this was the latter. I didn’t argue with him, but simply looked down at Andrew and raised my eyebrows. Andrew returned a smile, a mix of authentic wonder and amusement. We both knew what the other was thinking. I can’t say that what we heard that afternoon in the failing light of an East Texas forest was a sasquatch, but I can and do say that it might have been. Andrew and I were on the same wavelength because we’d spent a fair amount of time over the previous couple of months discussing the sasquatch mystery, prompted by the premier season of a cable series devoted to the subject and my discovery of surprisingly large online collections of alleged photos and videos of the creatures. I knew from research that, however unlikely it was, this was a place where a sasquatch could be. Unlike our home four hours west in Central Texas, which has no woodlands contiguous with the rest of North America’s forests, we were now in country that was at least sasquatch-plausible. San Jacinto County alone has seven encounters on record since 1996, the latest occurring in this national forest in 2008. Add the sightings from the five surrounding counties (Montgomery, Liberty, Polk, Trinity, and Walker), and the number climbs to an even 50. In the days afterward, I emailed the Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy and the national Bigfoot Field Research Organization asking if they knew of anyone doing research in the area that night, perhaps using a technique known as “call blasting,” playing reputed bigfoot howls over an amplifier in hopes of getting a response. The last thing enthusiasts need is to be reporting each other’s calls like Keystone Cops. I never got an answer, so it remains an intriguing mystery. I was born in 1967, the very year the sasquatch transitioned from persistent legend to pop-culture phenomenon with the capture on 16-millimeter film of an alleged specimen walking in full view along Bluff Creek in far northwestern California by Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin. So, along with all other members of my generation, I grew up in tandem with the spread of the legend. The awareness starts as a familiarity with a campy stock character in commercials, the Six Million Dollar Man’s boulder-heaving nemesis, or the subject of patently ridiculous tabloid headlines. Most dismiss it with a chuckle and a shake of the head, the doings of bored hillbillies or transparent self-promoters, and it ends there. But for me, my curiosity about the fringes of our world has always been stronger than my need to cut the fringes off and throw them away. In my early 30s, for no particular reason I can remember, the subject bubbled up in my consciousness, and I realized that there were rich themes in this mystery that had never been mined in serious literature. Rushing to fill that void, I wrote a novella called simply Sasquatch. I never published the book, and neither did anyone else. But there was one lasting effect of my having written it, which was that the research I did during the writing made me a solid believer. Once I began looking into the subject in a sustained way, it quickly became clear that something was going on here that was much more than just pop-culture shtick. What closed the deal for me was a book titled Big Footprints by Grover Krantz, an anthropologist at Washington State University who was virtually the only academic researcher at the time willing to investigate the mystery. I was deeply moved by the enormous courage Dr. Krantz showed, standing staunch against attacks and ridicule from throughout the academic world and insisting that this was a legitimate field of inquiry. And I began to realize that the themes pervading the sasquatch mystery cut right to the heart of the human condition and, what’s more, in their own quirky way echoed all the great themes of humanity’s experience with spirituality: faith and nonbelief, evidence versus proof, the ridicule of cynics, hoaxes and frauds, lazy skepticism versus earnest investigation, taboos, and a circle of willful ignorance. Just as Noah, in following his convictions, made himself an easy target for the laughter and scorn of his neighbors, Krantz — complete with flowing white beard — laid himself open to ridicule of scientific colleagues by asking questions — starting with “What made these footprints?” — and following the answers wherever they led. As I read his work and that of others, it occurred to me that future historians might well regard him as a Galileo of our day. His flinty indifference to fellow academics, caviling against him from the safety of their narrow, well-worn specialties and catered symposia, was inspiring. For many years, I’ve thought about dusting off the manuscript of Sasquatch and making another run at it. I’m a better writer now, I know more about the subject, and I could spin a more compelling tale. But something has kept me from it, and I think ultimately it is this — that any fictional treatment of this subject at this point in history only serves to feed the perception that the subject itself is fictional. And yet I’m drawn to write about it all the same, and so I offer these thoughts on the nature of the mystery, the state of the collective investigation, and what it all says about us. I Know How Crazy It Sounds Any serious discussion of the existence of the sasquatch has to begin with an acknowledgement of the difficulties, which are chiefly these: how is it possible that modern science has named 400,000 beetles and yet has not recognized and named a species that by all reports is larger than ourselves, sometimes much larger, and that is orders of magnitude closer to humans than anything else on the tree of life? How is it possible that we not only have not captured one, but have not found a body, or part of a body? As a species, we have utterly dominated the planet, infiltrating every nook and cranny of wilderness, heaven knows to a fault. The odds against us not having obtained proof of such a spectacular creature seem simply too great. It seems too fantastic. Therefore, it must all simply be a matter of hoaxes, misidentifications, and hallucinations. It can’t be, therefore, it isn’t. The short answer to why science hasn’t discovered and catalogued the sasquatch yet is that science isn’t looking. At the center of the sasquatch mystery, we find a circle of ignorance: Scientists refuse to investigate the phenomenon because it hasn’t been established by science. And it hasn’t been established by science because scientists refuse to investigate it. Imagine if all science proceeded on the premise that scientists only studied things that were already established by their peers. This self-reinforcing circle of ignorance is quite astonishing when fully appreciated and shows up just how full of human frailty the scientific establishment is. Despite science’s claims of rationality and impartiality, this phenomenon demonstrates how laden it is with selective open-mindedness, cowardice and timidity, careerism and personal ambition, and even intimidation. Far from simply asking bold and earnest questions — What made these footprints? What’s on that piece of film? — with few exceptions, we find satisfaction with burnishing one’s career by tiny increments in impossibly narrow specializations. By refusing to study this subject in any sustained impartial way, indeed, in threatening to revoke the tenure of those who show an interest in it and shunning it as taboo, the scientific establishment has deeply betrayed its own principles and demonstrated all the backward dogma of the Medieval church: “It isn’t because it can’t be.” Who is “We”? To the question, “How is it possible that we have not found a body…” it also is necessary to define “we.” There are several accounts of bodies being found. In one case, a creature was reportedly hit on a highway. Local police, not knowing how to report something that is not supposed to exist, cordoned off the area and called a higher authority, the state, who, facing the same dilemma, in turn called the National Guard. The subject was hauled away in an unmarked van, never to be reported or officially acknowledged. Another account tells of a live subject who, dazed and injured, wandered out of a Nevada forest fire and, finding himself surrounded by firefighters and EMS, simply “surrendered.” He sat before them and reportedly even allowed himself to be cared for before he was eventually taken away in vehicle without official report. These accounts are, by definition, hearsay, but they have a ring of plausibility. It doesn’t require a widespread conspiracy theory to imagine that when government officials suddenly face an unprecedented and sure-to-be-sensational situation, they would opt simply to make it quietly go away, “unmarked van” style, rather than risk being swept up in a media circus with which they forever would be associated. Some tell of bigfoot killings, in which the shooter remained anonymous out of fear of prosecution. Other accounts tell of 8-foot skeletons once discovered in a Kentucky cave, only to disappear into private hands. Still others tell of lumberjacks being given a gag order by their higher-ups to not discuss what they see or find for fear that confirming the existence of bigfoots would create a nightmare of new forestry regulation for the timber industry (see “spotted owl”). In defining the “we” in “Why haven’t we found one?” there is much anecdotal evidence that some of us have. And while many people are motivated to find and document them, others are just as motivated to keep their existence apocryphal for a range of reasons — fear of ridicule, fear of career damage, fear of regulation, fear of prosecution, fear of inciting hunting mobs or mob tourism, and the reflexive denial of government officials who assume common citizens couldn’t handle the truth. The War for Occam’s Razor Like all mysteries, the debate over the existence of the sasquatch is at its core a battle for Occam’s Razor. Named for Medieval English friar William of Ockham and also known as the law of parsimony, economy, or succinctness, Occam’s Razor is a principle that recommends selecting from among competing hypotheses the one that makes the fewest new assumptions. (The “razor” is what shaves away unnecessarily complicated parts of a theory or what separates one theory from another.) Let’s list the competing sets of assumptions quickly … Assumptions on the side of existence: 1. That humans have not classified/discovered every remarkable animal on earth. This is manifestly true. The point has been made many times that no less a zoological superstar than the mountain gorilla was only “discovered” in 1902. Indeed, more than 20 primates have been discovered since 1990. Even megafauna are discovered on a fairly regular basis. 2. That humans are not presently capable of dominating the vast wilderness areas of the northern hemisphere (they appear to exist in Eurasia as well) so completely as to rule out the existence of a smart, reclusive creature with vastly superior wilderness adaptations. 3. That an animal that was … - mostly nocturnal - supremely well adapted to forest living - possessed highly effective forest camouflage as well as hiding and evasive instincts, and - second in intelligence only to ourselves … could not evade us except for a few dozen instances a year. Assumptions necessary to deny existence: 1. That every single one of the thousands of sightings (some claim 3,000, others 30,000) on record is a case of a. mistaken identity, b. hoax, or c. hallucination. 2. That these hoaxes, hallucinations, and misidentifications have been taking place across the northern hemisphere for hundreds of years. 3. That First Nations people are in on the joke and have been for centuries, or else that they, who culturally are far more experienced in the American wilderness than late-coming white settlers, are not capable of telling the difference between a large primate that walks on two legs and other common animals of the forest. 4. That people in 49 states have concocted hoaxes that include photographs, casted footprints, and video that are sophisticated enough to agree on a large number of subtle physiological and behavioral traits and are sophisticated enough to fabricate DNA and hair samples that are non-human but primate. Which scenario does Occam’s Razor favor? For me and for other believers, it favors existence. In short, as hard as it may be to believe, it is easier to believe that there is a large but extremely reclusive primate living on this continent than to believe that, say, 15,000 people from all walks of life, including people like practicing psychologists and active-duty police officers with nothing to gain and everything to lose by reporting such a thing, are either wildly misidentifying bears or recruiting NBA players to travel into incredibly remote areas of North America and parade around in ape costumes through rough terrain. Hoaxes have occurred, and many misidentifications too. But ultimately, nonbelief impugns too many credible, corroborating witnesses. While there still is no proof, the mass of circumstantial evidence has simply grown too great. Put another way, the simplistic nature of the dismissals is not a match for the sophistication and volume of the evidence. Seekers, Believers, and Nonbelievers: A Typology In my experience, believers, agnostics, and nonbelievers come in a variety of flavors, six to be precise: three kinds of believers, two kinds of nonbelievers, and one category I will call the Seeker. 1. The Seeker is at the beginning of her investigation. She is open-minded, which means that she asks sincere questions and, being sufficiently detached from preconceived notions and committed to the truth, is willing to follow the answers to those questions wherever they lead. As she is at the beginning of her journey she is, of course, not yet committed to belief or disbelief. She exercises “healthy skepticism” but is not only willing to be convinced but willing to put effort into her own independent investigation. 2. The Rational Believer has seen or learned enough to be convinced, believes in their existence but continues to honor Occam’s Razor by looking to explain various situations first by ordinary means before resorting to the extraordinary: It’s a bear track until there’s no way it’s a bear track. It’s a coyote until there’s no way it could be a coyote. 3. The Knower is a subset of the Believer category, but he often eschews the term “belief” as insufficient. He does not need belief because he has encountered the creature first-hand in an unambiguous way. Full-time investigator James Fay, who claims having encountered a sasquatch of approximately ten feet, introduces himself by saying, “I’m not a believer; I’m a knower.” 4. In contrast to the Rational Believer, the Runaway Believer becomes so zealous and intoxicated by belief that anything and everything not immediately explained by something else obvious is a bigfoot. The sasquatch is everywhere and responsible for every broken tree limb, every carcass, every ambiguous impression in the mud. 5. The Skeptic simply says “show me.” His chief vice is laziness. The Skeptic, in my typology, prides himself on maintaining a sort of cynical pose and so, unlike the Seeker, he will not raise a finger to investigate a matter sincerely for himself. Rather he leaves the matter of investigation entirely to others, and the Believer must overwhelm him with iron-clad proof before he will be moved. But at least he can be converted if that overwhelming proof is indeed provided. 6. Denialists generally refuse to examine evidence at all. They group it with all other outrageous claims or forms of mythology: “I don’t spend my time investigating the reality of unicorns, the Easter Bunny, or Elvis, either.” When compelling evidence is thrust in front of their faces, they eschew Occam’s Razor and, in order to explain away a phenomenon they cannot make peace with, reach for explanations that are more outrageous than an extraordinary reality. They are the “irrational skeptics.” For Denialists, no amount of photographic, video, or audio evidence, and no supporting evidence such as footprints, scat, hair, or the like, even in the aggregate, is sufficient proof. They cannot distinguish between the extraordinary and the impossible. And yet, the telling detail is how this same group accepts, without any critical examination, outlandish explanations designed to dismiss the phenomenon. A costume artist claimed to have been hired to dress up in a suit for the famous Patterson-Gimlin Bluff Creek film. And to the Skeptic, it’s case closed, without any critical look at whether his claim squares with the evidence on screen — whether even a state-of-the-art costume in 1967 could achieve the effect of biologically realistic muscle groups flexing and bulging under the surface of the skin, whether such a costume could achieve the odd limb-to-torso ratio seen in the film, with knees and elbows bending at points impossible for any normal man, and whether the man claiming the hoax in such a costume could achieve the height of the creature, which has been established by multiple methods at well more than seven feet. Likewise, Ray Wallace claimed to have commissioned some wooden feet and faked prints over a period of a years, and for the Skeptic and Denialist, that’s good enough to explain away all footprints everywhere. “Case closed!” the news anchors proclaimed. Never mind the appearance of the creatures over the entire North American continent since well before European contact. And does it matter to skeptics that the wooden feet don’t match any of the footprints that have been cast or photographed, let alone all of them? This willingness to accept lame theories that supposedly explain away a persistent phenomenon (all UFOs are ball lightning or swamp gas) without real examination can only be explained as the result of three forces that are strong in the human condition and reveal themselves when humanity is challenged by either supernatural or preternatural experience: ignorance, arrogance, and fear. The circle of ignorance has already been described. Arrogance is manifested in the general assumption that our knowledge of the world around us is surely complete, that we are so clever and in control of our world that we are no longer capable of being surprised or astonished. The fear is a subconscious misgiving that that arrogance might be unfounded. It is the fear that we humans are not the only game in town. The fear that if such a thing as the sasquatch were real, it would force a profound reexamination of just who we are in the cosmos, and how we should treat a creature that is not quite us (human) but perhaps not quite them (animal). Another hallmark of the Denialist is his shifting criteria of proof. The Denialist asks, “Why are there no clear photos of a sasquatch?” Show him a clear photo and he says, “This is obviously a hoax?” Ask him why it is a hoax and he says, “It’s too clear. Only a hoax would be this clear.” Show him something less clear and he says, “Well this could be anything!” Whether consciously or subconsciously, he concocts criteria that can never be satisfied. Tall, Dark, and Not So Handsome (What Are They?) It would be easier to dismiss the phenomenon if descriptions of the sasquatch were all over the board. But the consistency of the sighting record on subtle physiological points, and the convergence of evidence from film, video, photos, audio, and tracks supporting those reports paints an ever more consistent picture of what we’re dealing with. It is neither Harry of Hendersons fame, nor the pissed-off monster of the Jack Links beef jerky commercials. Among sasquatches, as among humans, there appears to be both conformity and individuality, and, we might conclude from the consistent reports of subtypes, some differentiation of breed/ethnicity, if not a differentiation of more than one cryptic species. For a creature yet to be described by science, we have come to a remarkably comprehensive description based on thousands of witnesses and hundreds of pieces of photo, video, and track evidence. This is the picture that is emerging: The sasquatch is, of course, a primate, and therefore not surprisingly exhibits classic primate physical and social characteristics. With the exception of their size, they appear to exist midway between ourselves and the great apes on a spectrum, physiologically, mentally, and socially. And the more we learn about their behavior, the more likely it seems that in some regards they resemble a very primitive version of ourselves. - A large hominid primate that walks upright but can go on all fours for greater speed. Adult females are 7-8 feet tall. Adult males are 8-10 feet. - Their bodies are covered in hair — as opposed to fur — 3 to 4 inches long. This hair comes in all shades of human hair: black to brown (most common), auburn, blond (rare), gray (probable elderly), and white (probable albinism). - They are characterized by huge bulk and muscle mass. Their shoulders are wider proportionately than humans’, their limbs are thicker, and their torsos appear as deep as wide. Breasts are apparent in females, external genitalia in males. - Their faces are characterized by a heavy brow ridge with hair growing from the brow ridge or just above it all the way up the forehead. The head often appears slightly coned, probably from a combination of the shape of the skull exaggerated by the upward-and-backward growth pattern of the hair, though many report longer hair on the heads of some. - The eyes are large, as would be expected of a primarily nocturnal creature, but are set so deeply beneath the brow ridge that they are difficult to see except from eye-shine at night. They appear without visible whites. - Their nose is small and flat relative to ours, but like ours is hooded, not upturned like those of the apes. There is speculation that this adaptation allows them to swim, in contrast to other great apes. This feature, perhaps more than any other, probably adds to the perception of their faces as “human-like.” - Their faces are are usually described as flat, indicating a nose that is vanishingly small in profile relative to ours, but often broad and with large nostrils. - Their upper lip is longer than ours and has no cupid’s bow. The mouth is often described simply as a long, level slit, hard to distinguish unless open. Some report pronounced canine teeth. - Their jaw is heavy and set slightly forward but not to the extent of the apes’ prognathism. - Their skin is typically gray to black in color, which, for the black-haired ones, creates the effect of uniform color head-to-toe. - At a distance the most prominent difference from humans, aside from this uniformity of color, is the length of the arms relative to the rest of the body. Whereas humans’ arms are approximately 40 percent of total height, the arms of the sasquatch are some 60 percent of height, likely both a forest and a quadrupedal adaptation. Arm length is the fastest way to separate a hoax from an authentic sighting. The relative proportions of the limbs and the torso are exceedingly hard to fake, especially on video, as the joints would have to be placed at points nearly impossible for a human in costume to make look convincing. - When upright, the creature appears to slouch, holding its round-shouldered body at about a 15-degree angle. - Its head often appears quite small in relation to its massive shoulders and torso, and its large trapezius muscles attaching at ear level give the appearance of no neck when viewed from the front or back. - Like so many of its other traits, its hands appear to be transitioning from those of the great apes to our own, with a thumb that is only slightly opposable. - The sasquatch’s feet, which first betrayed its existence to popular culture, are remarkably human in form, the big toe having migrated fully into alignment with the others as opposed to the opposable big toe of the apes. While the top of the foot is hairy, the sole is covered by a thick gray pad, the better for trampling sticks, gravel, and other rough terrain. These “Ostman’s pads” were first described by Albert Ostman, who reported having a multi-day encounter in 1924. - However, the feet differ from humans not only in size but in their apparent internal structure. They do not have a ball and arch, but are flat and apparently have a “mid-tarsal break” that allows the back of the foot to move vertically independent of the front. This break, as well as flat-footedness, is present in other great apes. When walking in mud, this hinge results in a signature “pressure ridge,” a lateral hump across the width of the footprint created by the push-off of the forefoot after the lifting of the heel. - Lastly, another oft-reported trait is a strong, overwhelming stench. Theories abound, but it is so universal and so strong that it seems it must be the result of a gland not unlike a skunk’s. Witnesses often smell them before they see them. Anthropologist Jeff Meldrum reports that great apes have glands in their arm pits that can likewise give off strong smells. It is no wonder that a creature so perfectly poised between the rest of the animal kingdom and humans is unsettling to us. Many have described it as a chimera — half man, half ape, but this is only because we have apes as a reference point. The first explorer to encounter the great apes of Africa might well have described them as “half man, half monkey,” and so forth down the tree of life. It seems to simply fill a gap on that tree between apes and men, and, as such, offers fascinating insights into our own evolution, the transition from arborealism to earthbound bipedalism, communication techniques, and even the beginnings of structures. Many tracks and sightings occur near crude structures of snapped limbs — ground nests not unlike the gorilla’s, but also lean-to’s that appear to serve as shelters. Other teepee-like stick structures appear to mark territorial boundaries or perhaps act as signposts leading the way home. They appear to use broken sticks and rocks to communicate with each other in clacks and knocks and to hurl at intruders. But they appear to have no real tools nor to use fire. This line between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom appears to remain bright. Developmentally, they appear to exist just before the dawn of culture. Masters of Avoidance If the sasquatch exists, then it has successfully evolved in parallel to homo sapiens, a species that has either out-competed or killed off all other competitor hominids. Therefore, by definition, its greatest evolutionary adaptation must be elusiveness itself. The sasquatch seems to achieve this uncanny avoidance of humans in several ways. - First and foremost, by living where humans typically don’t: in steep, mountainous terrain or in thick cover, and preferably both. They seem to understand what constitutes natural barriers to humans and put as many of those between us and them as possible while still eeking out a living. While there have been numerous sightings on the fringes of human development — rural and occasionally even suburban — the vast majority of sightings have been deep within wilderness, the classic case being along logging roads, which penetrate the deepest. I have noted that most sightings seem to be within or just outside of national forests, not surprising as they allow for that combination of maximum isolation and maximum cover. Life in the mountains and at northern latitudes would be aided partly by their hair but more so by their gigantism, which accords with established biological laws such as Bergmann’s Rule. This holds that animals, even within a type, are larger at northern latitudes than southern. Larger objects have lower surface-to-volume ratios than smaller objects even of identical shapes. The bigger the body, the better the retention of body heat, a law that surely drove similar gigantism during the Pleistocene. (Perhaps sasquatches are to humans as wooly mammoths are to elephants.) - The second pillar of their elusiveness is achieved by hunting, foraging, and moving primarily at night; this distinction alone would be a highly effective segregator of humans and sasquatches. Many humans fancy themselves night owls, but watching late-night TV on a couch is quite different from hiking across rainy mountain passes and ambushing game at 3 a.m. Simply living where we aren’t and being active when we’re not would account for most of the remarkable fact that our scientific institutions have never obtained a specimen. Aside from these two dominant factors, there are others that apparently veil them from us when we inevitably do cross paths: - Camouflage. Researchers have noted how their hair coloring and texture, and even the difficulty of making out a face because of the uniformity of color, all aid in their ability to hide from us in plain sight. - Statuism. One of the most effective hiding strategies appears to be their ability to stand, squat or sit motionless at the drop of a hat. It’s been suggested that they evolved symbiotically with trees, and much of their hiding strategy involves blending into trees and even mimicking trees, standing stock-still, their coned heads looking for all the world at fifty feet like the top of a snag. The term “tree peeking” has been coined for a sort of fluid peek-a-boo hiding behavior seen on video and in thermal night images, and several have been filmed waving fronds in front of their faces in an apparent attempt to draw the eye to the frond instead of what’s waving it. - Arborealism. Juveniles apparently live in trees (see New York state baby video), above our normal field of vision, where their long strong arms, obvious forest adaptations, allow them the life of a gibbon. Naturally the great size for which they’re destined prevents them from staying up there past adolescence, so it’s easy to imagine a period of training whereby they’re taught the ways of effective hiding before the they reach a size that keeps them earthbound. However, adults have been reported coming down out of trees that are up for the task of supporting 600-900 pounds. - Aquaticism. While great apes cannot swim, it’s been suggested that the sasquatch’s hooded nose, like ours, allows it to. This would open up a world of mobility not available to other great apes. They could not only traverse streams and rivers but could swim through swamps and across lakes, perhaps between islands. This ability would open up vast wild areas of Canada, for instance, where the chances for contact with humans would be vanishingly small. Put together, all of these factors — isolation through terrain, cover, elevation, latitude, nocturnal activity, camouflage, statuism, arborealism, and aquaticism — begin to shed light on how it might be possible for a highly intelligent and very versatile creature, whose very evolution has been driven by the need to avoid detection by men, to have escaped scientific cataloguing for two centuries. In struggling to understand how all this could be, it’s instructive to consider the biggest misconceptions about this subject. 1. That there is one creature. In 2012, a Fox News morning show hosted Cliff Barackman of the Animal Planet program Finding Bigfoot, and the jumping off point for the interview, was “Researchers believe there is more than one Bigfoot,” as if that were some startling new revelation. It should go without saying that if a creature is real, then it is a member of a species with a breeding population — with males, females, and juveniles of all sizes. Belief in the sasquatch does not require belief in anything supernatural. New agers who have tried to co-opt the sasquatch by suggesting it’s related to UFO phenomena or inter-dimensional travel have done massive harm to the cause of what is a purely scientific, zoological subject, albeit a spectacular one. Its remarkable size and elusiveness notwithstanding, the sasquatch is a flesh-and-blood animal, which means that in the end it conforms strictly to biological laws. Moreover, it is by definition a primate, by which we can assume it conforms to numerous laws of primate behavior and physiology, such as that it lives in family groups, cares for and carries its young in certain ways, and so on. And, like us, it is by zoological definition a great ape, by which we can infer even more specific things about its probable diet, communication techniques, territoriality, and so on. Ironically, bigfoot enthusiasts themselves are to blame for much of this misconception by their continual use of the singular form. “Bigfeet” doesn’t sound quite right as a plural, but “bigfoots” sounds even less correct. The terms bigfoot and sasquatch seem to have established themselves in our linguistic consciousness as singular entities, just as many people will refer to any and all policemen as “Johnny Law” or to any chauffeur as “James.” This is reinforced by capitalization, so that it becomes parallel to other singular legendary creatures, like Babe the Big Blue Ox, or Nessie (who, if real also stands for any member of a breeding population, whose various members have been sighted alone over centuries and therefore taken on a singular identity, “Nessie,” instead of “the nessies”). On the back cover of Dr. Jeff Meldrum’s excellent book Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science, we find the headline: “Does sasquatch exist?” Note the singular formulation, even from one of the greatest minds on the subject (or at least from his publisher). We wouldn’t ask, “Does horse exist?” or “Does dog exist?” For this reason, I try to use either the plural “sasquatches,” in which case it would be “Do sasquatches exist?” or when discussing the species “the sasquatch,” while also lowercasing it. (You can always test usage by substituting “horse.”) This widespread misconception that bigfoot is a single creature may be most to blame for people dismissing it out of hand. 2. That they are limited to the Pacific Northwest. While the Northwest has been the site of the most famous encounters, most people are surprised to learn that there have been sasquatch reports in 49 states and throughout Canada. (If they put a premium on solitude, then Canada almost certainly supports more of them.) Sighting maps show concentrated activity from the lower Rockies and Sierras up through the Cascades and all the way into Alaska, throughout Canada, from Minnesota and down through the forested Midwest, across the Great Lakes to Maine all the way down the Appalachians and into Florida, where it has been known for generations as “the skunk ape,” and west as far as East Texas, reports largely ceasing wherever annual rainfall drops below 40 inches. Forestation, not necessarily mountains, seems to be the common denominator of its habitat. Indeed, if the sighting record is to be believed, millions of Americans and Canadians are within a two-hour drive of a small family group at this moment. Moreover, there is compelling video evidence of their existence in Poland and Russia, and of course, the numerous reports of the Asian yeti, which in the mid-20th century first stirred Americans’ popular interest in the subject of a living non-human biped. 3. That it is a solitary animal. Many assume that because most reports describe a single individual that they are essentially solitary animals. Experts believe, and primatology would predict, that they move in small family groups, and that for every animal that is seen, there are probably several others hiding nearby. The growing sighting and video record bears this out. Living in small groups as opposed to large ones would be one clear evolutionary adaptation allowing easier avoidance of humans. One intriguing area of research would be what the upper limit of groups would be. In 2008, researchers uncovered a colony of 125,000 lowland gorillas in a Congo swamp, immediately doubling the number of these gorillas thought to exist. There is not enough remote cover to support anything on this order for the sasquatch, but it is intriguing to consider a group of even a few dozen of them living in a virtually unreachable hanging valley or high basin in Alaska or northern Canada. 4. That it is a dangerous monster. Whether the sasquatch constitutes a monster is subjective. As to whether they are dangerous we have a significant amount of data to go on. When humans encounter sasquatches there are several common reactions by the creatures: Retreating. Usually, they simply walk away nonplussed and within a few moments are too far into cover to be seen anymore. Hiding. If they believe they have not been seen yet, they exhibit hiding behavior, usually standing behind trees and peeking periodically or squatting in brush or behind logs or boulders. Intimidating. In accordance with great ape behavior, when they feel their territory or young are being threatened they will harass and intimidate intruders. This often includes throwing rocks from a hidden position, paralleling hikers to “escort” them out of an area, screaming, grunting, oofing, and tree snapping. Spying. Despite their elusiveness, they seem to have the primate’s signature curiosity, and there is ample video evidence of them spying on human activities such as campfires, sledding, or shooting ranges from what they believe are hidden vantage points. What is certain is that if they wanted to harm humans, they easily could do so. Their overwhelming size, strength, and speed would make short work of us small, spindly, smooth types. It must be assumed that part of their survival instinct includes avoiding not only contact with humans but conflict as well. I am not aware of any report of a sasquatch killing a human or even attacking one except at a distance with rocks, while there are several reports of sasquatches being shot accidentally by hunters or under the pretense of self defense, an unfortunate but understandable reaction during a moment of extreme shock and fear. Though physically intimidating in the extreme, fortunately for us it is clear that they are far less dangerous than a common bear. This is far from saying they are not scary. Overwhelming fear is a nearly universal human reaction to an encounter, one so basic that it often commandeers the reaction of even the most curious and adventurous personalities. One witness, who had pulled over in the wee hours of the morning on a road near Lake Conroe north of Houston when he encountered one, reported shaking for two straight days. In this video shot in Colorado, you can hear genuine fear in the voice of a woman watching something she is trying to process. (We cannot know if the subject of this video is authentic, but the reaction certainly seems to be.) Even dogs, renowned for their aggression, run and cower uncharacteristically; this instinct appears to be richly justified in dogs as some have turned up dead in proximity to sasquatch sightings. With apologies to Orwell, the sasquatch rule of thumb appears to be “Two legs bad, four legs food.” With the exception of its occasional curiosity, it seems the sasquatch’s highest aspiration is to be left alone. 5. That they’re a recent discovery. There is much evidence that humans have had a very long, uneasy relationship with these, our country cousins. Indeed, the cataloguing of the sasquatch may constitute the most protracted “discovery” in our history. No less venerable a document than the Book of Genesis mentions “giants in the earth” (the Nephilim). One of the main characters in the Epic of Gilgamesh, Enkidu, is a hirsute wild man. The oldest classic of the English language, Beowulf, places an outsized bipedal monster, “Grendel,” in Denmark. And on it goes, all the way through to the wookie of Star Wars. Some are fond of ascribing these mythic literary recurrences to Jungian archetypes, ancient mental forms projected into literature from our collective subconscious. But who is to say the kernels of archetypes themselves are not real memories trickling down to us from eons-old run-ins with these creatures? Whatever the case, it seems likely that this is not our first rodeo with the bigfoot. Why do I care? I admit that the sasquatch is an unusual topic to occupy the thoughts and the time of a grown man and a city-dwelling white-collar professional. Any enthusiast of a preternatural topic admits it at some risk to his own reputation, and at the very least lays himself open to ribbing by some and eye-rolling or gossip by others. But the volume of literature and TV shows on paranormal topics betrays a huge, if closeted, audience interested in such things. In a world brimming with pressing issues — starvation and disease, political chaos, international economic crises, climate change, and energy decline — what does this really matter? For me, the sasquatch mystery is endlessly fascinating for three reasons: First is pure curiosity and wonder. I’m grateful we live in a world where there are still a few mysteries left, and frankly I don’t understand anyone who is not fascinated by this. I’ve wondered whether, in some divine scheme, mysteries like this aren’t meted out to act as intellectual catnip for humanity, teasing our intellect along one maddening question at a time in order to stimulate our own development. We’re accustomed to going through our days with our thoughts occupied by the pettiness of political races, celebrity hookups and divorces, what the Dow did since noon, weight-loss plans. Then, one discovers that ten-foot hairy monsters actually exist, and suddenly the rest of it just doesn’t seem that interesting anymore. I often chuckle at myself during the day, riding the bus to work, sitting alone at lunch, head bowed during a worship service, or listening to an erudite lecture, and there it comes, a bigfoot walking along in a Homer Simpson thought bubble. It is never far. Eventually, even obsessions have their ebb and flow, but once you’ve internalized this reality, once you really believe, what passes for “general interest” in the flow of daily life has an increasingly hard time competing. A corollary to this pure fascination is a natural hunger for discovery. Ours is a world in which every dent and bulge of the globe has been mapped to a fare-thee-well. Every continent has been not only charted, but much of it sold and fenced off. True discovery seems as though it has been pushed either out to deep space or down to the esoteric realm of quantum physics — either way, to places inaccessible to the average Joe. But here, suddenly, we find a spectacular mystery, nothing subtle about it, something crying out for exploration that certainly doesn’t require a graduate degree to appreciate. Geographic discoveries having been exhausted, adventure has migrated to the zoological frontier. And if part of it attracts the soul of the explorer, another part calls to the soul of the prospector. Any person in the right place at the right time can make a substantial contribution to our body of knowledge, if not land the mother lode — a body itself. Moreover, this frontier is a highly democratic one. No need for wealthy benefactors to fly you to the Himalayas or Africa. It is neither a rich man’s game nor one requiring substantial travel; most Americans regardless of means are right now within a few hours drive of a mind-blowing, society-shaking discovery. All of this swirls to strengthen the allure. Second, I think the sooner we arrive at a shared understanding of what these creatures are and where they fit into the tree of life, the better chance that they will survive what is surely the greatest test of their existence, the encroachment of humans into their final refuges. With the widespread establishment of large national forests and a burgeoning ethos of conservationism, there’s reason to hope that they might have already weathered our worst. The third reason I care is the most abstract but perhaps most important. This fascinates me because of the light it sheds on the process of belief and disbelief, extraordinary claims and extraordinary evidence. Whether the subject is preternatural, as with bigfoots and UFOs, or supernatural, as with belief in God and spirit, the process of seeking truth is much the same. Our response to a sudden challenge of our view of the world and our place in it is both fascinating and instructive. In this and all matters that test our frame of reference, I believe … - We should keep an open mind. This does not mean believing everything we hear, or blindly believing anything we hear. Rather this means asking questions in a methodical way and following the answers wherever they may lead. - We should be slow to accuse people of lying, and, especially when they have lived their lives in a way that gives us no reason to suspect them, give them the benefit of the doubt. When these people number in the hundreds, or in the thousands, and hail from all walks of life, this too should be weighed. Likewise we should be slow to dismiss the historical memory of indigenous people. For American Indians, America was not discovered by Christopher Columbus; it was discovered by them when they traversed the Bering land bridge some 15-20,000 years earlier. Likewise, for First Nations people in general, the sasquatch is not in need of being “discovered.” Many are Knowers. They know it to exist and do not need the validation of the scientific arm of Western civilization to certify it into reality. Not that we should give scientific credence to any and all beliefs around the world, no matter how mythological. But the mounting evidence, including the eye-witness testimony of modern Native Americans that accords with their own ancestral traditions, should give us pause. - We should be modest about our knowledge of the world and recognize the astounding discoveries being made every day. - We should be modest about our dominion over that world. We’ve done our worst to pave every inch of it, but it’s still wilder and bigger than we think. There’s every reason to believe that sightings will not only continue apace but will grow in number and frequency as our own numbers grow, and that the quality of evidence will improve with the march of technology. And when at long last the debate suffocates under the weight of evidence, and we transition from the age of evidence to the age of proof, we should approach the subject with respect and with awe. As one retired Oklahoma forester Charles Branson put it, “We’ve studied them for a lot of years and know their habits pretty well. … If you see one, just admire it. They’re part of the good Lord’s creation.” * * * Below are links to what I consider the most interesting examples of video and photographic evidence. One might wave these off at first glance as hoaxes. The sasquatch’s very proximity to the human form makes this a tempting claim. But closer examination and viewing these alongside known hoaxes helps distinguish them as likely specimens: We start with the gold standard, the Patterson-Gimlin film of 1967, what is surely one of the most analyzed pieces of footage in natural history. Though several parties have made competing claims of having hoaxed this footage, it appears that the only hoaxes are the claims of hoaxes. The size of the creature has been confirmed independently multiple times, incorporating landmarks and reenactments using the trackway left by the subject, as over seven feet tall. A digital reconstruction and animation of the subject’s skeleton shows that the limb-to-torso ratios are non-human. Numerous painstaking analyses argue for the film’s authenticity, but the layman can easily see the muscle groups rippling under the hair, including a hernia apparent in the right thigh. The preponderance of evidence gleaned from numerous independent studies argues overwhelmingly in favor of this film’s authenticity. This is a real and uncatalogued animal, and as such, this film represents one of the most important natural history artifacts of all time: This segment from a TV show features a 1994 video shot by Paul Freeman in the Blue Mountains of southeastern Washington: This is high-quality video from 2008 of an unknown ape-like creature high in a tree in a Maine forest. If this is a sasquatch, it is a juvenile. Some dismiss it as a porcupine: Game camera trap, Greenbrier, West Virginia. 2011 Jacobs camera trap subject. Likely juvenile. Pennsylvania, 2008. A huge curated collection of photos and videos with analysis can be found at the Facebook group “Find Bigfoot.” (Not associated with the TV show Finding Bigfoot. https://www.facebook.com/FindBigfoot Finally, just for fun, here is poster collage I made using the many plausible photographs of the creatures.

A cryptid of Cornwall, The Owlman. I originally sketched it out as having a fleshy underpinnings that fold out like a snake and flying squirrel, but I also wanted to give it its feathery plume. After visual referencing from the Marquis Graphic novel, I used the feathery plume, but gave it a bit of a tentacle feel and added both modes of its form, one as a mass of tentacled feathers with deep eyes and the top, revealing an unfurled creature excited at the prospect of a kill, with a crown and wings exposed. For more info, The Owlman was a series of sightings in the city of Mawman, Cornwall and sometimes compared to the Mothman, here in the United States. Though descriptions are varied, a common theme of it is its glowing red eyes, so any portrayal is open for interpretation. I'm not too proud of it, only because of my thoughts on having a clear vision of my creatures, but I'll leave that to the public to decide.

Once again, Adam Davies has been so kind as to share his experiences with the readers of The Paranomalist. For regular readers of our website, I’m sure that you know that Adam was recently searching for the Mande Burung, a large, bipedal hominoid reportedly seen by many of the inhabitants of the Garo Hills region of India. Adam Davies, Director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology Richard Freeman, and a team of additional researchers met with local M-B researcher Dipu Marak, spending approximately three weeks investigating this rugged, heavily forested and mountainous area of northeastern India for evidence of the elusive creature. In addition to collecting physical evidence, the cryptid researchers interviewed many of the native inhabitants who reported to have seen the Mande Burung. Please enjoy a portion of Adam’s video journal of his most recent cryptozoological investigation:

If relaxation, sun and sand, or sightseeing just don’t excite you, Traveling in Search of Mythical Creatures may be for you. Okay, probably not, but reading about a few of the world’s cryptozoological inhabitants might whet your whistle, or it could just totally creep you out. [main image – gerrrtrudicus’ photostream] Kapre – the Philippines Kapre (also known as Agta) is a Philippine mythical creature that could be characterized as a tree demon, but with more human characteristics. The tall brown, hairy male with a beard likes to dwell in big trees are not necessarily considered to be evil. When in the Philippines, you might find a Kapre willing to offer you friendship, but beware of him falling in love with you, if a Kapre befriends any human, especially because of love, the kapre will consistently follow its “love interest” throughout life. Chupacabra – Latin America and beyond While descriptions vary widely, the deadly goat-sucking Chupacabra is sometimes described as a winged monkey, six to eight feet tall, with long, clawed arms and hideous fangs. Other eyewitnesses have stated that the creature is a flying rodent or a species of kangaroo. Frequently spotted in Puerto Rico, the Chupacabra has also reportedly struck in Texas, Costa Rica, and Mexico. Chupacabras could be cousins of the world’s only vampire bats, three species of which live in parts of Mexico, Central America, and South America. [image -spiron] The Bray Road Beast – Wisconsin, United States The Beast of Bray Road (or the Bray Road Beast) was first reported in the 1980s on a rural road outside of Elkhorn, Wisconsin. Though the same name has been applied to any unknown creature from southern Wisconsin or northern Illinois that is described as having similar characteristics to those reported in the initial set of sightings. Bray Road itself is a quiet country road that was flooded with a rash of claimed sightings in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Jersey Devil – New Jersey, United States The Jersey Devil, sometimes called the Leeds Devil, is a legendary creature or cryptid said to inhabit the Pine Barrens in southern New Jersey. The creature is often described as a flying biped with hooves, but there are many variations. After giving birth to her 12th child, Mother Leeds stated that if she had another, it would be the Devil. In 1735, she gave birth to her 13th child, who later changed form. It growled and screamed, then killed the midwife before flying up the chimney. [image – museum of hoaxes] Mothman – West Virginia, United States Between November 12, 1966 and December 15, 1967, Mothman terrorized citizens in the Point Pleasant area of West Virginia. It was said to have been encountered by at least 100 people over the course of that year. The creature has been reported to be roughly man-shaped, either grey or brown, and between five and seven feet tall. Slightly wider than man, the Mothman did not appear to have a head, but rather its glowing red eyes were set on the upper chest. Yowie – Australia Yowie is the term for an unidentified hominid that supposedly lurks in the Australian wilderness. It is similar to the Himalayan Yeti and the North American Bigfoot. Reports of Yowies are common in the legends and stories of Australian Aboriginal tribes. During the 19th Century, Australia saw a wealth of sightings, thought reports have continued to the present day with the trail of evidence following the pattern familiar to most unidentified hominids around the world. [image – Anthony Wallis Illustration] Loch Ness Monster – Scotland No list of mythical creatures is complete without a reference to the world’s most famous. Nessie is thought to be a large aquatic animal resembling a serpent or a plesiosaur like reptile. Reported to have been seen in the waters of Loch Ness, Scotland, but not proved to exist, her legend goes back to the 6th century. [image – listoplenty] Water Leaper – Wales Llamhigyn Y Dwr, commonly referred to as a ‘water leaper’, is a Welsh monster of ponds, swamps and lakes. It is said to have the limbless body of a frog, a long lizard tail and wings resembling those of a bat. Its nickname comes from the way it uses its wings to leap out the water and glide forth. The Water Leaper is carnivorous, making it a pest among fisherman communities. It reeks havoc by snapping fishing lines, eating livestock and sometimes attacking humans. [image – forteanzoology] Bigfoot – North America Bigfoot, another mythological favorite, is a very large, hairy, humanoid creature from North American folklore reported to inhabit wilderness areas of the U.S. and Canada, especially the Pacific Northwest. Also, known as Big Foot, Sasquatch,The Abominable Snowman, or Yeti, it also claimed that Bigfoot is omnivorous and mainly nocturnal. Mngwa – Africa The Mngwa or Nunda in the Swahili language, means “the strange one.” Legend has it that this mythical cat is stronger than a lion and deadlier than a leopard. It moves silently, comes out to kill humans, and then disappears. The Mngwa’s fur is dark gray with black stripes, like that of a tabby cat. As far back as 700 years, leaders of native tribes have organized hunting parties to find the Mngwa, but came up empty. Expert trackers in more modern times have tried to track the beast with the same results. All images and content courtesy of Mythical Creatures Guide, unless otherwise noted.

LOCH NESS (/ˌlɒx ˈnɛs/ ; Scottish Gaelic : Loch Nis ) is a large, deep, freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands extending for approximately 37 kilometres (23 miles) southwest of Inverness . Its surface is 16 metres (52 feet) above sea level. Loch Ness is best known for alleged sightings of the cryptozoological Loch Ness Monster , also known affectionately as "Nessie". It is connected at the southern end by the River Oich and a section of the Caledonian Canal Loch Oich . At the northern end there is the Bona opens out into Loch Dochfour , which feeds the River Ness and a further section of canal to Inverness . It is one of a series of interconnected, murky bodies of water in Scotland ; its water visibility is exceptionally low due to a high peat content in the Loch Ness is the second largest Scottish loch by surface area at 56 km2 (22 sq mi) after Loch Lomond , but due to its great depth, it is the largest by volume in the British Isles. Its deepest point is 230 m (126 fathoms ; 755 ft ), making it the second deepest loch in Loch Morar . A 2016 survey claimed to have discovered a crevice that pushed the depth to 271 m (889 ft) but further research determined it to be a sonar anomaly. It contains more fresh water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined, and is the largest body of water in the Great Glen , which runs from Inverness in the north to Fort William in the south. * 1 Villages and places * 2 Monster * 3 Fish species * 4 Island * 6 Geology * 7 Image gallery Loch Ness records * 9 References * 10 External links VILLAGES AND PLACES Drumnadrochit is the " Loch Ness Centre and Exhibition" which examines the natural history and legend of Loch Ness. Boat cruises operate from various locations on the loch shore, giving visitors the chance to look for the "monster ". Urquhart Castle is located on the western shore, 2 km (1.2 miles) east of Drumnadrochit. Lighthouses are located at Lochend (Bona Lighthouse ) and Fort Loch Ness Monster Loch Ness is thought by some to be the home of the Loch Ness Monster (also known as "Nessie"), a cryptid , reputedly a large unknown animal. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in 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 Urquhart Bay and Loch Ness viewed from Grant's Tower at Urquhart The following fish species are native to Loch Ness. A number of others such as perch and roach have been introduced in the Caledonian Canal with various levels of success. European sea sturgeon Acipenser sturio (unconfirmed in the Loch, but known from Beauly Moray Firth , which is connected via the River Ness ) Brown trout (ferox trout ) Salmo trutta (Salmo ferox) Loch Ness has one island, Cherry Island , at the southwestern end of the loch, near Fort Augustus . It is an artificial island, known as a crannog , and was probably constructed during the Iron Age . There was formerly a second island (Dog Island) which was submerged when the water level was raised during the construction of the Caledonian Canal . Loch Ness serves as the lower storage reservoir for the Foyers pumped-storage hydroelectric scheme, which was the first of its kind United Kingdom . The turbines were originally used to provide power for a nearby aluminium smelting plant, but now electricity is generated and supplied to the National Grid . Another scheme, the 100 Glendoe Hydro Scheme near Fort Augustus , began generation in June 2009. It was out of service between 2009 and 2012 for repair of the tunnels connecting the reservoir to the turbines. Loch Ness lies along the Great Glen Fault , which forms a line of weakness in the rocks which has been excavated by glacial erosion, Great Glen and the basins of Loch Lochy , Loch Oich and Caledonian Canal in Fort Augustus , Loch Ness in the Loch Ness looking south, taken in May 2006. Loch Ness, taken at Loch Ness panorama from a ship in 2008 Loch Ness Urquhart castle LOCH NESS RECORDS John Cobb died in an attempt at the water speed record when his boat Crusader struck an unexplained wake on the surface of the loch in 1952. His accident was recorded by the BBC reporters on site at the time. Nearby, there is a memorial to him erected by the people of On 31 August 1974, David Scott Munro, of Ross-shire Caberfeidh Water Ski Club, became the first person in the world to water ski (mono ski) the length of Loch Ness. From Lochend to Fort Augustus and back, he covered the 77 km (48 miles) in 77 minutes at an average speed of 60 kilometres per hour (37 mph). In July 1966, Brenda Sherratt became the first person to swim the length of the loch. She began her swim the day before her 18th birthday, completing it the following day having turned 18 during her swim. It took her 31 hours and 27 minutes. * ^ Dill, W.A. (1993). Inland Fisheries of Europe, p. 227. EIFAC FAO Technical Report 52 suppl. * ^ "Bathymetrical Survey of the Fresh-Water Lochs of Scotland, 1897–1909". National Library of Scotland . Archived from the original on 2007-02-08. * ^ A B "Ness, Loch". The Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved * ^ "A new hideaway for the Loch Ness monster? Skipper claims to have uncovered deepest crevice yet". The Telegraph. Retrieved * ^ "The Loch Ness Centre". * ^ Nessie, Legend of. "The Legend of Nessie the Ultimate Monster Site". www.nessie.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-02-28. Loch Ness Information site: The Fish and Invertebrates of Loch Ness. Retrieved 24 March 2015. * ^ A B Blundell, O. (1909). Proceedings of the Society of Scotland (PDF). 43. pp. 159–164. * ^ "Glendoe Hydro scheme". Scottish and Southern Energy . Archived from the original on 2007-08-28. Retrieved 2007-08-28. * ^ "Hydro-electric scheme\'s dam close". BBC . 2008-09-01. * ^ "SSE Glendoe". * ^ Piccardi, Luigi (2014). "Post-glacial activity and earthquakes Great Glen Fault (Scotland)" (PDF). Memorie Descrittive della Carta Geologica d’Italia. 96: 431–446. * ^ Gallacher, Terry. " Loch Ness 1966". Retrieved 24 May 2012. * ^ Press & Journal newspaper. Inverness edition. 2 September 1974. * ^ "Brenda Sherratt\'s Birthday Swim To Remember". Open Water Swimming. Retrieved 2017-02-11.

I just want to know where this mad libertarian scientist's lab is that is cranking these babes out. - JW The attention we've been getting is appreciated, but the site is little more than a placeholder right now. I plan to have a revamped site up soon. Please check back. We're lucky 13! Looking forward to 2012: Angela Keaton + Michelle Shinghal On the Virtue of Voting Third Party This country is a one-party country. Half of it is called Republican and half is called Democrat. It doesn't make any difference. All the really good ideas belong to the libertarians. -Hugh Downs If you plan on voting for the "lesser of two evils"-- or sitting out on the presidential election altogether-- please reconsider. An individual vote for one of the two major candidates (one vote out of tens of millions) would mean practically nothing. There's little real difference between the candidates; and unless something dramatic happens last minute, Obama is going to win. A vote for McCain isn't going to accomplish anything, and a vote for Obama would be superfluous. However, you can use that vote to express support for ideas that lie outside the false dichotomy of our current political paradigm. Even if you oppose the election process itself on principle, is it really such an ethical contradiction to encourage greater exposure for a third-party perspective? Your vote can help ensure future ballot access, media attention, and even participation in debates. If you feel that noone represents you enough to deserve your vote, or you simply refuse to symbolically surrender your sovereignty, writing yourself in may be an option. Abstention is likely to be read as apathy and acquiescence rather than dissent. If you're determined to boycott, at least do so loudly. Babe Theory of Political Movements Look for the babes, and that's where the social action is, that's where the success will be. - Will Franklin As a libertarian woman, I've grown accustomed to being regarded as a political cryptid. The men far outnumber us in meetups, conventions, and online forums. We're out there, though-- carrying the banner, debating, educating, building community, and representing the feminine side of principled individualism. And our numbers are growing. Creating this website has given me an excuse to network with some of the most beautiful, interesting, intelligent women I've ever met. If they are able to use their physical charms to draw attention and further disseminate a worthwhile message, then hey, bonus. ;) The gallery and forum are not yet up. If you'd like to help/participate, please contact me through myspace, facebook, or email. Thanks! - L. Belle

This week’s Fantasy Friday features Rachel Vincent’s Menagerie series. I first found Rachel via her blog, about three months before her first Shifter book, Stray, released. I loved the Shifter series, than fell in love with her Soul Screamers YA series. Then came her Unbound series, which I also enjoyed, though not as much as her other two series. Basically, I will give anything this woman writes a try. She’s earned a spot on my auto-buy list, and it isn’t easy to get on that. So when Menagerie was announced I was excited to see what she’d created this time around, and was not disappointed. SOME SPOILERS AHEAD!!!! YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!!! click on covers to go to Amazon note: this is the new paperback reissue cover for Menagerie. I love it! But the original cover, currently on Amazon, is beautiful as well. Menagerie is the first book in the series, and the only one available at this time. It’s the story of Delilah Marlowe, who learns the hard way that she isn’t exactly human. By the end of the book, she discovers she’s a Fury. I loved Vincent’s take on this mythical creature- it was refreshingly different than other books I’ve read. Here’s the blurb: 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 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. Spectacle, book two, is due out March 2017. I’m very much looking forward to seeing where Vincent takes this series. Here’s the blurb: When their coup of Metzger’s Menagerie is discovered, Delilah and her fellow cryptids find their newly won freedom brutally stripped away as they are sold into The Savage Spectacle, a private collection of “exotic wildlife.” Specializing in ruthless cryptid cage matches, safari-style creature hunts and living party favors, the Spectacle’s owner, Willem Vandekamp, caters to the forbidden fetishes of the wealthy and powerful. At the Spectacle, any wish can be granted—for the right price. But Vandekamp’s closely guarded client list isn’t the only secret being kept at the Spectacle. Beneath the beauty and brutality of life in the collection lie much darker truths, and no one is more determined than Delilah to strip the masks from the human monsters and drag all dark things into the light. Menagerie is firmly dark fantasy. I won’t sugarcoat how dark this book is- the events that take place are not for the faint of heart. Abuse, rape, death, and the way the cryptids are treated is not something for every reader. However, I found the story well-worth reading, and the world-building is fantastic and the imagery vivid. The only complaint I really have is that I found the ending slightly rushed. I expected a bit more than was written. That said, while I wish the end had a bit more meat on it, the actual endpoint is satisfying. When I left Delilah and the other cryptids I felt a mix of hope and wariness, because nothing in their world is easy. I do recommend giving this book a try if you enjoy Dark Fantasy and Urban Fantasy. The world is vivid, imaginative, and while the cruelty within the pages is hard to take, the character journey and rich world are worth the read.

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July 26, 2016 by kittynh I was honored recently to give a talk at Keene Public Library as part of their “Out of the Normal” brown bag lunch get together. It’s a wonderful program that features a different speaker each Thursday during the lunch hour. I spoke about “Bigfoot in New England”. Yes, Bigfoot has been reported in New England. I shared that my personal belief should not interfere with my participation as a skeptic in the search for Bigfoot. My talk was really not about Bigfoot, so much as how any skeptic can help an investigative group. Even a group looking for something I’m pretty sure can’t be found. I’m not going to call the local Bigfoot group a “paranormal group”. That is because the Bigfoot community is divided between those that believe Bigfoot is just a “normal” but unknown cryptid, and those that believe Bigfoot is an alien entity of some sort with super human powers. The local group I work with are of the “Bigfoot is large, furry, not so cuddly real life Teddy Bear.” (Teddy Bear ,as unlike most bears, Bigfoot apparently isn’t interested in mauling and eating human.) So how can a skeptic help any paranormal/normal group? One thing to I do is ask “What are other groups doing?” (The answer to that is easily found by watching “Reality” TV). Second thing to do is suggest “Let’s not do that.” (Because it’s not working, no one is finding anything) Third thing to do is ask “What can we do ,that is different, that might prove whatever it is we are looking for is real?” There is no harm in looking, but let’s look in logical ways that might end up with everyone saying “Maybe there is no Bigfoot in the area?” Then you try a few of those suggestions in real life. I point out again and again, do not purchase a “Bigfoot Hunting Kit” from the internet (or a “Ghost Hunting Kit” or “Chupacabra Hunting Kit”), try to be original. Even if it doesn’t work, we’ve tried something different. We know what doesn’t work, let’s try some new stuff that also might not work, but at least we’re original. The audience for the talk at the Keene Library were truly intelligent and had great questions. One audience member even had suggestions for what some mystery footprints found in the snow could be. If you don’t learn something from your audience when you give a talk, you are doing it wrong. The best part for me is always the question and answer period. I was asked by a podcaster if he could tape the talk, and if afterward I would agree to an interview. I was happy to see my friend Chip Taylor had driven down from his home in Cabot Vermont to hear my talk, and invited him to join the interview. Chip is a very knowledgable skeptic, and his knowledge of conspiracy theories came in handy during the podcast interview. Also, thank you to Keene Public Library for doing so much more than just checking out books. The Brown Bag Lunch talks are a lot of fun, and a chance for the public to be exposed to things like UFOs,ghosts, psychics and through Bigfoot…. a little skepticism. I really dislike hearing my own voice, so I haven’t been able to listen to the entire podcast. I did not know the nature of the podcast before agreeing to the interview and taping. But the host was very professional and while we may not have agreed on everything, it was well done and enjoyable. One thing about being a skeptic is the educational aspect of it. When I saw the library was having a paranormal themed series of lunch talks, I admit I volunteered to throw in skepticism via any topic not already covered. Bigfoot it was, and I hope everyone, including myself, learned a little something. Also when you put up a powerpoint slide of a bear with mange, that perhaps isn’t the best slide choice while people are eating lunch. But I’m sure it was memorable.

The most famous cryptid of this sort is the Jersey Devil, said to live in the New Jersey Pine Barrons. Stories of the Jersey Devil go back to the 1700s, but its heyday (discussed later in this post) was in January 1909. Along with the Jersey Devil, there is a possibly even stranger creature called the snallygaster, and the jabberwock, too. Starting in the 1930s, the area surrounding Washington, D.C. and Frederick County, Maryland was settled by many German immigrants. Many of these people told of seeing something they called a "Schneller Geist," which means "quick spirit" in German. The Schneller Geist was said to be some sort of dragon-like monster, part bird, part reptile, with a beak lined with sharp teeth and tentacles. So, not really something you'd want to run into when you're alone in the woods in the middle of the night! Settlers said the creature, which later became known as the "Snallygaster" here in the U.S., would silently swoop out of the sky and snatch up human victims! Some stories also said that it drained the blood out of whatever it caught. Farmers painted seven-pointed stars on their barns, because that was supposed to keep the Snallygaster away. People still do it today. In February and March, 1909, many newspapers carried stories about a "beast with enormous wings, a long pointed bill, claws like steel hooks, and an eye in the center of its forehead." The monster also was said to make "screeches like a locomotive whistle." After these stories came out, the Snallygaster received a great deal of publicity. The Smithsonial Insititution offered a reward for its hide, and President Theodore Roosevelt even considered hunting the beast. Many people think the stories of a Snallygaster were just a newspaper hoax. It supposedly met its doom in a vat of moonshine. Maybe that's what started the stories of the Snallygaster in the first place? THE SNALLYGASTER'S ENEMY: THE DWAYYO There were also stories about the Dwayyo, another strange Maryland monster, said to be the enemy of the Snallygaster. The Dwayyo is supposed to be bipedal, hairy, and has a bushy tail. It is commonly said to look like a wolf but stand like a human. (That sounds like a Dogman!) The Dwayyo and Snallygaster are said to be bitter enemies. Violent encounters between them have been reported since settlers first arrived in the areas they supposedly inhabit. On November 27, 1965, the Frederick News-Post, of Frederick County, Maryland, described an account of an encounter with a Dwayyo. Here's the account: "Near the woods of Gambrill State Park, 'John Becker' went out in his yard to investigate a strange noise. It was getting dark, and he had started back to the house, when he saw something moving toward him. 'It was as big as a bear, had long black hair, a bushy tail, and growled like a wolf or a dog in anger.' As it got closer, it stood up on its hind legs and attacked him. 'Becker' fought the creature until it ran into the woods, leaving him, his wife and children in horror. Deciding to the remain anonymous under the alias John Becker, he filed a report with local state police, telling of an attack by a mysterious monster that he called a Dwayyo." If anyone can, I encourage them to see if they can find the Frederick News- Post from Nov. 27, 1965 and see if the story is really in there, or see if there was actually a police report about a Dwayyo attack. If the story is true, it really sounds like the Dwayyo is a Dogman. Just like with the Snallygaster, the Dwayyo is probably more fiction than truth. But, there have been a good number of reported sightings besides the one above. Maybe there really is a werewolf-like monster in Maryland. In January 1909, residents of New Jersey and surrounding states were in a panic because of reports of the "Jersey Devil." The sightings started Saturday, January 16, when Thack Cozzens, from Woodbury, New Jersey, was leaving the Woodbury Hotel. As he was leaving, he heard a hissing sound and saw "something white fly across the street. I saw to spots of phosphorus, the eyes of the beast. There was a white cloud, like stream escaping from an engine… it moved as fast as an auto." There was another sighting at 2 a.m. Sunday morning, in Bristol, Pennsylvania, when John McOwen woke up to the sound of his crying daughter. He went over to the window and saw a "creature that looked something like an eagle" that "hopped along the tow-path." Another Bristol resident, Officer James Sackville, saw the Jersey Devil after McOwen. As he was walking towards Buckley Street, he heard dogs barking at something. When he turned, he saw the creature. He said it was winged, hopped like a bird, had the features of some peculiar animal, and had a horrible scream. Sackville ran towards the creature and fired at it. The Devil started to retreat, flying close to the ground at first, but then shot upwards and out of sight. Sightings of the Jersey Devil occurred in many other places in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and other surrounding states that week. The reports have been chronicled in many books on cryptozoology, (including my own book, and an older one called The Jersey Devil) so I will not go into the details of all the other sightings here. |Book on the Jersey Devil.| It's a good one, too! Descriptions of the Jersey Devil varied widely, with some people saying it was about three-and-a-half feet tall, with a "head like a collie dog" or "face like a horse," back feet "like those of a crane," a long neck, horse hooves, short front limbs that it held up, and which had paws on them, wings, and even a serpent tail. One witness said it was "something like a possum, but the size of a dog" that "made a shrill bark and flew off into the air." Another said it had antlers, and yet other descriptions saying it was "three-toed and dog-like," had "eyes like blazing coals," and looked like "a winged kangaroo with a long neck." One woman said "It's a two-legged cow with wings!" Sightings have continued after that week in January in 1909, but the Jersey Devil has never been sighted as much as it was that year. But, were people really seeing what they said they were seeing? With all the varying descriptions, it's obvious that mass hysteria had at least a part in spreading rumors of the Jersey Devil. The real question is: did some of the witnesses actually see some unknown creature, and if they did, what was it? That question remains unanswered to this day. What is a "jabberwock?" What does it have to do with snallygasters and Jersey Devils? |Jabberwocky from Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There (1872)| By Lewis Carroll We're not talking about the jabberwocky from the Lewis Carroll poem. We're talking about the term "jabberwock" regarding snallygaster and Jersey Devil-like creatures. One witness who saw the Jersey Devil, Louis Strehr, a Camden policeman, called what he saw a "jabberwock." He said it had the antlers of a deer, the head and body of a kangaroo, and bat wings. Did he just get the term from Lewis Carroll's poem? Probably. But now the name "jabberwock" is associated with weird winged wonders seen in Maryland and New Jersey.

Beastly Madness Mysterious Universe Nick Redfern brings us cryptid oddness in a slightly different form, with a collection of real werewolf reports, both historical and modern. Sufferers of lycanthropy have historically been treated with little respect or sympathy and many were put to death by burning at the stake. Since then, lychanthropy has been recognized as a real, genuine mental disorder but is still misunderstood. Meanwhile, Michael Higgins of Bigfoot Evidence exclaims Gigantopithecus? Hold on a sec... and attempts to dispel the theory that Sasquatch is an offshoot of a certain primate family tree and wonders that perhaps instead Bigfoot grew to gargantuan sizes because of evolution due to his environment. In crypto-cat news, Police Say Big Cats Seen In Northeast Ky where residents say only deer used to roam, and a Strange Cat Attack Isiolo Livestock in Kenya is panicking villagers.

So, sorry I haven’t been uploading to the blog lately, it’s just that it’s the first week of the holidays. And I know you know I know you know how tired we all are at the end of the term. My first year at Secondary School has flown by, and I am pleased to say I received no detentions throughout the whole year. WHO DA MAN? I’m never saying that again. I’m going to blather on about superheroes! Because I can! Would you say they’re a type of cryptid..? You.. you.. you don’t? Oh well, here it is anyway. People might claim that the reason for fictional superpowers is magic. Unfortunately (me being a person who puts all her faiths in Science and ignores everything else), I can’t quite see this happening. I’m a bit of a nutter on superheroes and heroines, and it was only a matter of time until I poured out all my ideas into a blog. If you’re not the Marvel type, look away. What do you think makes a hero? Is it the hard work they put into helping others, or is it how they act? For instance, Batman is your worst nightmare, yet he’s a little bit... sick-minded, shall we say? Superman’s just a bit BOOM-here’s-a-superhero-with-every-imaginable-power-IN-YOUR-FACE! Wolverine... now there’s a superhero. Feral senses, adamantium making him near-invincible, an amazing healing factor and claws in his forearms! I’m so sad! Catwoman. She’s a bit like Batman, always just going that extra edge. However, she saves people, in her own strange way. She doesn’t get much recognition, but hey! She’s famous! Now who would you make up if I asked you to create your very own superhero/heroine? Blog Man? The Caped Cryptozoologist? The Cloaked Cryptid? I’ve made up one, and my two best friends and my other half have too. My superheroine is called Jaguar. By god, she’s brilliant. My friend(remember ‘Mandy?’) has made one up; she’s called Eclipse and my other friend’s heroine is called Phoenix. My boyfriend’s is called Psychic and he’s very powerful indeed. Telekinesis and telepathy! Psychic powers for a psychic guy called Psychic! Fail. He also has great big white wings that come out from his back. There’s a minor healing power around his shoulder-blades where the wings come out, leaving no indication that it’s actually him. There’s also weird symbols on the palms and backs of his hands. Weird BLUE symbols *gasp*. Jaguar is eternally 19. Here’s the beef: She’s very much like Wolverine, apart from the obvious fact that she is a woman. However, where Wolverine has 3 claws that extend from his knuckles when his fists are clenched, she has four. Instead of Adamantium, she has a completely made-up metal called Lontoca coating her bones. Lontoca is the product of a chemical reaction between genes in her bones, named Commutatio, and a chemical called Metadermicreo. As you can probably guess, all of the above named forms of matter are completely made-up. Which I would class as an admirable feat… but that was just my inflated opinion of myself talking there. Okay. Now for Phoenix. She has the power to manipulate light at her own will, and also heat. At her most powerful, she can control fire as well, so with all these powers combined, she could make the natural oils on people’s skin inflame. How does she do this, I hear you ask? She makes the molecules holding whatever she wants to burst into flames vibrate. Conjuring light up out of air is a completely different matter, however. She sort of… copies the light matter and basically messes about with it. She can transform into a lioness (which I would imagine is painful) and can wield a sword like nobody else can. She trained with the, and I quote the creator of Eclipse, bets fighters in the world. However, she is very secretive about her character and so I won’t write who the fighters are. Eclipse has the power of gravity manipulation, therefore she can walk on walls and ceilings and stuff. She can also slam somebody into the ground from a great distance, so if you annoy Eclipse… …you’re basically doomed. In her beast form, she has a blue diamond sunk into the flesh on her side. AND THAT IS ALL ON OUR CHARACTERS. But there are a lot of superheroes in the real world. Fairies! …Hang on. You can be a hero too; like Jon is (he makes us famous via blog). Do helpful stuff! Love everything! You don’t have to be in a yellow Spandex suit to make a difference... Damn, I needed to write this.

Taking A Walkabout With The Australian Yowie, Clawed Hands, Excavators, Giant Wombats and Bruises Bigfoot Evidence Except for the Giant Wombats, all of the above was involved in just one Yowie encounter, as Damien Bravo explains. In 2009, worker Dean Harrison says he was attacked and beaten up by a Yowie that left prints on the construction site excavator. Harrison is not shy in sharing the physical evidence as the photographs show. The man was certainly tossed around by something...Like the Yowie, the Mothman seems a bit fond of roughing people up and even killing them if all the stories are to be believed. A local news station revisits Point Pleasant, West Virginia and finds that the residents are still understandably unsettled about the subject: Ohio's Mysteries: The Legend Of Mothman. Who Forted examines another crpytid mystery just north of Ohio and nearly as ominous as Mothman: Classic Cryptid: The Legend of the Jersey Devil. The Jersey devil has been reported for 275 years in the Pine Barrens area and no one is any closer to explaining what exactly it is. The creature tends to mostly frighten hikers out in the woods but has been known to terrorize whole towns, as it did in 1909 for an entire week. The Cryptid Chronicles brings us a great overview of another elusive creature, this one slightly less threatening perhaps only by virtue of being limited to water, Pressie the Lake Superior Sea Serpent. Like all great cryptid creatures, Pressie has been reported for over a century and has been captured only in a handful of blurry photographs. New Snackin' with Sasquatch Commercial: Book Club. You can take Sasquatch out of the wild, but you can't take the wild out of Sasquatch.

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Review copy provided in exchange for an honest review I love a good monster, cryptid, or in this case, dinosaur story, and I love the creativity found within the pages. After finishing the first chapter of Monsters in the Clouds I knew I had found another story that met this criteria. Russell James mixed real science with his fiction and that added a layer of realism I really enjoyed. Our protagonist, Grant, who is an author, paleontologist, and college professor, was also the main character in Cavern of the Damned (which I now want to read). I was immediately drawn to this character and his sense of humor, and the surrounding characters were well written too. Grant is now on another adventure after being hired to prove, or disprove, the existence of an Apatosaurus dinosaur. There is some dubious evidence that the dinosaur is living in the Amazon jungle. Grant and a small team set off to see if the dinosaur is real or if this is a well played hoax. What could possibly go wrong in the middle of nowhere chasing down dinosaurs? I remember how Jurassic Park turned out! The numerous species Grant finds and isolation of the jungle created a great atmosphere for this story. At every turn there were hidden dangers, and many of them deadly. Grant and the others came looking for an Apatosaurus and found plenty of other surprises. When a giant corporation hires you for an expedition it can’t be expected to go well, and it didn’t. I found the true reason for the expedition very cool and the fact it was kept secret not surprising. I always love a good twist, and this book had many. Now my next challenge, figuring out when I can fit Cavern of the Damned into my ever growing reading list! Length: 136 Pages Publisher: Severed Press Release date: January 29, 2018 To Purchase Monsters in the Clouds Click Here Paleontologist Grant Coleman and activist Janaina Silva are recruited by Thana Katsoros for a top secret expedition, one in search of a live Apatosaurus on a plateau deep in the Amazonian rain forest. But their plane crashes short of their destination, and the entire group faces a terrifying fight for survival. This isolated area hosts unknown animals more fearsome than they’d expected, including giant ants and flesh-eating pterosaurs. Even worse, Katsoros’ agenda has more to it than meets the eye, and Grant soon fears that it doesn’t include all of them getting back alive. Will any expedition members survive to be rescued, or will they be devoured by the creatures indigenous peoples call the monsters in the clouds? Russell James, Biography- Russell James grew up on Long Island, New York and spent too much time watching Chiller, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, and The Twilight Zone, despite his parents’ warnings. Bookshelves full of Stephen King and Edgar Allan Poe didn’t make things better. He graduated from Cornell University and the University of Central Florida. After a tour flying helicopters with the U.S. Army, he now spins twisted tales best read in daylight. He has written the paranormal thrillers Dark Inspiration, Sacrifice, Black Magic, Dark Vengeance, and Dreamwalker. He has several horror short story collections, including Tales from Beyond and Deeper into Darkness, as well as some science fiction collections. Now, Q Island, released July 7, 2015 and he’s already under contract for his next book for 2016. His wife reads what he writes, rolls her eyes, and says “There is something seriously wrong with you.” He and his wife share their home in sunny Florida with two cats. To find out more about Russell R. James, please visit his Website or follow him on Facebook! Join him on Twitter, @RRJames14. Also, feel free to drop him at a line at firstname.lastname@example.org.

Variations: Mokéle-mbêmbe, Mokele Mbembe, Monstrous Animal; Nsanga; Emela-ntouka, Emia-ntouka, Aseka-moke, Ngamba-namae, Killer of Elephants, Water Elephant; Nguma-monene, Badigui, Ngakoula Ngou, Diba, Songo; Mbielu-mbielu-mbielu Tales of the Mokele-mbembe, “One Who Stops the Flow of Rivers” (or, more simply, “River-Shutter”), come from the Congo River Basin, around the Ikelemba, Sanga, and Ubangi rivers and Lake Tele. It is the most discussed and well-known of the “African mystery beasts” primarily due to the cryptozoological interpretation that defines it as a surviving sauropod dinosaur. It – or its unnamed predecessor, at any rate – was initially described as hailing from Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). There is nothing unique about the mokele-mbembe. It is at least four notable mythic creatures: the river-shutter, the pachyderm slayer, the unicorn, and the giant reptile. River-shutters are sub-Saharan creatures with an aptitude for withholding or releasing a river’s water; in communities dependent on life-giving water, this can mean the difference between life and death. The pachyderm slayer – a creature so mighty and dangerous that it routinely kills the biggest and scariest animals known – is a far broader category that has been famously applied to the dragon and the unicorn. The presence of a single horn is a recurring feature of monsters, most notably the unicorn. Finally, giant reptiles (often irresponsibly called “dragons”) are a worldwide theme. The first to suggest the existence of a large dinosaurian creature was big-game hunter and zoo supplier Carl Hagenbeck. Hagenbeck reports a huge animal, half elephant and half dragon, from deep within Rhodesia (not the Congo, where the mokele-mbembe eventually took up residence). He said that there are drawings of it on Central African caves but provides no further detail on that angle. All in all it is “seemingly akin to the brontosaurus [sic]”. Hans Schomburgk, one of Hagenbeck’s sources, stated that the lack of hippos on Lake Bangweulu was due to a large animal that killed hippos. An expedition sent by Hagenbeck to investigate the creature’s existence found nothing. Tantalizing as it may be, the entire episode with the nameless saurian is no more than an aside in Hagenbeck’s book, an attempt to attract potential investors by capitalizing on the contemporary “dinomania” sweeping the globe. The first decade of the twentieth century saw a vast increase in public interest in dinosaurs. In 1905 the mounted skeleton of Apatosaurus was unveiled at the American Museum of Natural History and London’s Natural History Museum inaugurated its Diplodocus. Soon museums across the world were receiving their own gigantic sauropod skeletons courtesy of Andrew Carnegie, industrialist and patron of the sciences. In 1907 the skeletons of enormous sauropods emerged in German East Africa; these eventually formed a hall of titans in Berlin’s Natural History Museum. Hagenbeck’s account of a living sauropod was not written in a vacuum, but was – consciously or not – drawing on contemporary massive interest in massive reptiles. E. C. Chubb of the Rhodesia Museum dismissed Hagenbeck’s claim. To him, this creature was no more than another example of the “land edition of the Great Sea Serpent”. He received further accounts of the Rhodesian creature, a large beast with flippers, rhinoceros horns, a crocodile’s head, a python’s neck, a hippo’s body, and a crocodile’s tail; a three-horned creature from Lake Bangweulu, Zambia, that killed hippos. The next step came with Lieutenant Paul Graetz in 1911. He wrote about the Nsanga of Lake Bangweulu, a “degenerate saurian” like a crocodile but without scales and armed with claws on its feet. Graetz supposedly came by strips of nsanga skin but saw nothing more tangible. The account that concretized the mokele-mbembe and gave it its name was that of German officer Ludwig Freiherr von Stein zu Lausnitz. His report places the mystery beast firmly in the Congo, around the Likouala rivers. The mokele-mbembe has smooth, brownish-grey skin. It is approximately the size of an elephant, or a hippopotamus at the smallest. Its neck is long and flexible. It has only one tooth, but that tooth is very long; “some say it is a horn” adds Stein (this feature is usually ignored, as it does not conform to the sauropod narrative). It has a long, muscular tail like a crocodile’s. It attacks canoes and kills its occupants without eating them. The mokele-mbembe is vegetarian and it feeds on a type of liana, leaving the water to do so. It lives in caves dug out by the sharp bends in the river. Stein was shown a supposed mokele-mbembe trackway but could not make it out among the elephant and hippo tracks. Stein’s account is the basis for the modern mokele-mbembe legend. The report was never officially published, but was publicized by Willy Ley (who inexplicably linked the mokele-mbembe to the dragon of the Ishtar Gate). This in turn led to successive expeditions to the Congo by James H. Powell Jr. and Roy Mackal. Mackal determined the mokele-mbembe to be 5 to 10 meters long, most of which is neck and tail. It has smooth brown-grey skin and a very long neck with a snakelike head on the end. Sometimes there is a frill, like a rooster’s comb, on the back of the head. The legs are short and stout, with three claws on the hind legs, and leave 30-centimeter-wide prints. The malombo plant is the staple of the creature’s diet. While herbivorous, the mokele-mbembe is very aggressive and will destroy any canoes that approach it. It does so by tipping the vessels, then biting and lashing out with its tail. In addition to the mokele-mbembe, Mackal is responsible for bringing to light a whole menagerie of prehistoric survivors and some unusually-sized modern reptiles as well. The Emela-ntouka, for instance, is larger than an elephant. Its skin is smooth, hairless, and wrinkly, brown to grey in color. Its legs are thick and columnar to support its weight. The tail is heavy and similar to a crocodile’s. There is a single horn on the front of the head. These creatures are herbivorous and kill buffaloes and elephants by goring them with their single horns. If all this sounds familiar, it’s because none of it is distinguishable from what has been said about the mokele-mbembe (including the horn, no longer an inconvenient detail). Mackal optimistically proposes that the emela-ntouka is a late-surviving ceratopsian dinosaur. Nguma-monene, “large python” (from nguma, “python”, and monene, “large”) is reported from the Dongou-Mataba river area. It is a large, serpentine reptile, some 40 to 60 meters long, with a saw-toothed ridge down its back. The head is snake-like with a forked tongue that flicks in and out. It is greyish-brown like just about every other large reptilian cryptid. It is indistinguishable from the badigui, ngakoula ngou, diba, or songo of the Ubangi-Shari. All of these are giant snakes which kill hippos and browse on tree branches without leaving the water. They leave tracks behind like those of a lorry. All of them are indistinguishable from the mokele-mbembe. Mackal describes them as enormous monitor lizards. The Mbielu-mbielu-mbielu, or “animal with planks growing out of its back”, is restricted to the Likouala-aux-Herbes in the Congo. It is known solely as a large animal that has large “planks” on its back with algae growing between them. The rest of its appearance is unknown. Only one informant reported the mbielu-mbielu-mbielu. Mackal makes a surviving stegosaur out of it. Finally there is the Ndendecki (a giant turtle), the Mahamba (a giant crocodile), and the Ngoima (a giant eagle). None of these are any more believable than the mokele-mbembe and its host of synonyms. It would be tedious to list all subsequent expeditions (all unsuccessful) or the anthropological procedures used (all unprofessional). It should however be noted that the hunt for the mokele-mbembe has been coopted by the creationist movement. For some reason these people have decided that the discovery of the mokele-mbembe will be enough to destroy the entire theory of evolution (it won’t) because a surviving dinosaur would be a lethal paradox to science (it isn’t). There is nothing unique about the mokele-mbembe, but as a vaguely defined reptilian river-shutter it is a sort of Rorschach test that viewers can project their preconceptions onto. Far from a detailed local legend, the myth of the mokele-mbembe evolved to suit the needs of the visitors who sought it, whether zoo suppliers, colonialists, cryptozoologists, or creationists. Any underlying folklore about river-shutting reptiles has long been abandoned and discarded, relegated to an etymological footnote. It does not fit the narrative. Hagenbeck, C., Elliot, S. R. and Thacker, A. G. trans. (1911) Beasts and Men. Longmans, Green, And Co., London. Ley, W. (1959) Exotic Zoology. The Viking Press, New York. Loxton, D. and Prothero, D. R. (2013) Abominable Science! Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and other Famous Cryptids. Columbia University Press, New York. Mackal, R. (1987) A living dinosaur? E. J. Brill, New York. Naish, D. (2016) Hunting Monsters: Cryptozoology and the Reality Behind the Myths. Arcturus, London. Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; and Osmolska, H. (2004) The Dinosauria, 2nd Edition. University of California Press, Berkeley.

Say hello to felis retrowavus, commonly known as the synthwave cat, one of the rarest species of felid on Earth. Using the same technique GloFish employed to create bioluminescent neon fish for the pet market, scientists engineered felis retrowavus by extracting fluorescent proteins from jellyfish and inserting them into cat embryos, which incorporated the new proteins into their genome. The result? A new species of cat that glows in fabulous colors like Tigerbrite Orange™, Electro Azure™, RadarGlo Green™, 1984 Pink™ and SithRed™! Your brand new Neon Feline™ will run, jump and meow just like a regular cat, but unlike a plain old kitty, your Neon Feline™ will snuggle up with you at night and serve as your personal biological night light! Collect them all! If that sounds like BS, that’s because it is. Likewise, it should only take a second or two to realize the widely disseminated photo of a “snake cat” is a fake rendered by an AI. The image has all the hallmarks of an AI generated image fail: Anatomical errors, fuzzy pixels where the AI struggled with the way light hits fur, a misshapen head and a nebulous, blurry background. Although the media seems to be more obsessed with the snake cat hoax than people are (the snake cat image “mystified the internet,” the New York Post claims), after years of witnessing people take Onion stories seriously and confidently repeat misinformation online, I’m not really surprised when something like this makes the rounds. The image was accompanied by a clever bit of writing claiming the cat isn’t well known because it’s native to the deep jungle of the Amazon, where scientists have difficulty tracking it. The text even offered a taxonomical name for the cryptid animal. Enough people apparently fell for it that the staff at Snopes felt the need to debunk the image, even going as far as to check with a biologist who specializes in tropical fauna. The original author of the snake cat post says he created the image and accompanying text to prove how easy it is for people to be fooled by AI-generated fakes. A noble goal if true, but I’m not sure everyone got the message. In any case, the “snake cat” proves once again that AI, like all innovations, isn’t inherently good or bad. It’s what we do with the technology that counts. Now can I interest anyone in a brand new Purple Velvet or Flaming Hot Cheetos SnuggleCat™?

Saturday Adventures 2019 The New Year is on us, and we have a slew of new adventures in store. Four stories have already been added to the calendar, and we hope you will be joining us. Legends of Bigfoot 1/19 This five-part series plunges into the Pacific Northwest in search of America's legendary primate. What will Indy Anna Bones discover on the Bigfoot Highway? The Winchester Mystery House 1/26 This sprawling mansion in San Jose was constructed with intent to confuse and confound the pursuit of vengeful spirits. The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow 2/16 Revisit the Old Dutch Church to seek the spirit of Washington Irving as we revisit one of the original Saturday Adventures. Expanded and improved! The Fountain of Youth 3/9 Way down south in Florida Indy Anna Bones follows the track of Ponce De Leon in search of the springs restorative powers. Bird Rescue 4/20 Indy Anna Bones comes to the rescue of an injured pigeon chick, bringing the little bird to a knowledgable wildlife rehabilitator. #bigfoot #sasquatch #cryptozoology #cryptid #paranormal #mystery

Docuseries explores if a Bigfoot committed a 1993 triple homicide Throughout his career, investigative journalist David Holthouse has gone down a lot of dark paths that have found him in the same circles as methheads, neo-Nazis and gang bangers. But it was one anecdote he was a witness to back in 1993 that led to the creation of the three-part Hulu docuseries Sasquatch. As Holthouse explained in episode one, while visiting a pot farm in Northern California in 1993 he was hanging out with a local pot farmer when a couple of farmhands burst into the remote shack and started babbling about finding three workers at a nearby growing patch that had been torn limb from limb in what they insisted was a savage Bigfoot attack. Add to that the fact that sightings of the cryptid were frequent in that part of the state, where dense old growth redwood forest defined the terrain. This story was rattling around in the back of Holthouse’s head when friend and director Joshua Rofé contacted him with an unusual pitch for a new project. “I sent [David] a text and said it was the craziest text I was going to send him in five years,” Rofé recalled. “I told him I wanted to find a murder mystery wrapped up in a Sasquatch story and if it exists, pursue it as the next story. He wrote me wrote me back and said, ‘I love it. I’ve got one and will call you in five.’ Then he tells me this story from when he was 23.” Brooklyn native Rofé, whose previous projects included the 2013 documentary Lost For Life and the 2018 Amazon docuseries Lorena (which he’d worked on with Holthouse), was familiar with Bigfoot the same way “I was with pop culture names like Tom Hanks and JFK.” And while had no interest in the subject, that changed when he tuned into Sasquatch Chronicles, a weekly podcast with 66,000 subscribers that provides a platform for regular people to recount their experiences/sightings. Rofé became quickly hooked. “I listened to one [episode] and then four days later, I’d listened to 11 episodes,” the director said. “I was so taken by the visceral fear that I felt was present in these encounter stories that it was all I could think about for a week. By the end of those seven days, I thought if I could find a murder-mystery wrapped up in a Sasquatch story, that could be something really special. So David Holthouse is someone I’ve been working with for a few years and I knew about his history as a gonzo journalist. If you were me and you wanted to find that type of story, you would call up Holthouse.” In doing the deep dive into this subject matter, Holthouse and Rofé did their due diligence in reaching out to credible subjects on the topic of Sasquatch and include interviews with James “Bobo” Fay of the Animal Planet series Finding Bigfoot and Professor Jeff Meldrum, a respected anthropologist with the University of Idaho who is an expert on foot morphology and locomotion in primates. Also included is Bob Gimlin, who along with the late Roger Patterson, shot the famed Patterson-Gimlin film, a piece of footage from 1967 that purports to capture a Sasquatch sighting at Bluff Creek in Northern California, not too far off from where Holthouse was 26 years later. In addition to tapping into the Sasquatch mythos, the filmmakers painted the background of the community in this part of the state known as the Emerald Triangle, a nod to the rich cannabis-growing region that sprang out of the back-to-the-land movement. This happened in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, when numerous hippies and others relocated to rural areas to pursue a more self-sufficient lifestyle. These counterculture refugees quickly discovered options for monetary sustenance were limited and pot farming was the most lucrative means of support in this remote area. The lure of easy drug money soon found motorcycle gangs and more hardened criminal types moving in to take over the local economy and bring with them a darker and more violent way of life in their wake along with the attention of the DEA. It was in dealings with tracking down ex and current gang members where Sasquatch takes a turn into becoming more of a true crime investigation of drugs, myth and murder. Unlike the more avuncular “squatchers” and hippies that were happy to share their stories, the sense of danger to Holthouse’s well-being becomes palpable as delves into the criminal underworld in pursuit of the truth. The potential for danger was a real possibility according to Rofé and a real challenge in getting this series made. “A major hurdle was penetrating this criminal underworld that is so closed off to society,” Rofé said. “I don’t take any credit for this. It’s David, his skill as an investigative journalist and his ability to find his way into worlds that people wouldn’t otherwise be able to enter. I felt really concerned about David and he will be the first to tell you that there were times when he wondered if he was going to leave a meet-up alive because he was alone. Nobody would have been able to find him and he couldn’t tell us where he was. It was scary.” One of the more unique aspects of the series was the use of animator Drew Christie’s images to move the story forward, a route Rofé wasn’t initially in favor of pursuing. “[Producer] Mark Duplass suggested animation because we were wondering how we were going to represent all this stuff for which there are no photographs or archival footage of,” he said. “I didn’t jump at the idea because I hadn’t been a fan of animation in docs at that point and it just isn’t my thing. [The producers] told me to talk with Drew Christie because they’d worked with him before and said he was an amazing animator who lives in the Pacific Northwest and understands the look and feel of the region. I spoke to Drew and told him what David’s story was. Even though it’s a doc series, this story feels like more of a graphic novel. He went and did his own thing and about two weeks later he sent David animation that told the story from 1993. I’m telling you—I don’t even know if there was a frame change to the final show.” The twists and turns Holthouse’s investigation takes gives Sasquatch a duality that finds cryptozoology and the criminal underworld meeting at a true crime crossroads. The myths that inform both subcultures are a big part of Rofé’s takeaway in the aftermath of this project. “I think folklore is something that needs to be taken seriously because if you start to dig into certain stories of lore, there is often something even deeper and darker that’s there if you’re willing to dig far enough,” he said. Sasquatch is currently airing on Hulu.

What is the Loch Ness Monster? No one knows, but that hasn't stopped legions of armchair cryptozoologists from formulating one theory after another on the subject of the world's most famous lake creature. Ok, it isn't entirely true that we don't know anything about what Nessie is – a lot of evidence indicates that the beast was born of the marriage between a compelling local legend and the imaginations of hoaxers and excitable eyewitnesses alike. The cold, murky waters of that massive lake must surely take on an ominous, mysterious quality during long Scottish nights – is it any surprise that the region generated the Greatest Fish Story Ever Told? Since the first publicized sighting in 1933, the adventurous and the curious have been trying to figure out what it is that people keep seeing in those turbid grey waters. Theory One: Nessie is a Plesiosaur. This theory might not seem weird because it's been around almost since the original sighting. There are even a few oddly plausible aspects of this theory. Plesiosaurs (specifically, long-necked elasmosaurs) may have been warm-blooded, which would allow one to live in the chilly loch waters. In the early 90s, a Discovery Channel expedition learned that the loch's fish population was much greater than previously known – enough to support a population of evolved plesiosaurs? Maybe. There are two huge problems with this theory, though. The biological problem is that elasmosaurs were not physically able to raise their heads and necks above the water in the swan-like fashion virtually every photo and eyewitness account indicates. The geological problem is more severe: in between the supposed extinction of plesiosaurs and the formation of Loch Ness was a period of glaciation that left the entire region encased in ice several miles thick. And if you're about to propose some kind of Encino Man scenario, let me just stop you before you say it out loud. No, just stop. Apple MacBook Air Laptop The M1 chip delivers 3.5x faster performance than the previous generation all while using way less power. Get up to 18 hours of battery life. Theory Two: Nessie is an elephant. All of the photos of Nessie appear to show objects bearing a vague resemblance to a Loch Ness Monsterish shape, but all of them could easily be something else. There are a lot of plausible theories, like native otters or elephant seals that have been known to venture into the loch from time to time. A few scientists have proposed that the head and neck shape is actually the trunk of an elephant held aloft, with the elephant's back forming the humps of Nessie's…uh, humps. Whether the elephant photos were taken elsewhere and claimed to be from Loch Ness, or some circus elephants escaped and took a swim in a frigid Scottish loch is anyone's guess. But that's cryptozoology for you, where "swimming elephant" can seem perfectly logical. Theory Three: Nessie is a standing wave from a boat wake. Loch Ness is really long and narrow, plus extremely deep with sheer sides. This causes waves to do weird things sometimes. If a boat heads down the loch's center, the wake hits the sides and returns to the center to form a standing wave long after the boat has left. A lot of sightings are simply weird wakes in the middle of the loch with no wind or boats nearby, and the standing wave theory would account for these. It's a weird theory because it's so prosaic. I kind of love the idea that all this fuss is over a simple matter of fluid dynamics. Theory Four: Nessie is tree gas. This is my personal favorite. The idea is that the loch is surrounded by huge stands of pine trees which fall into the loch when they die. Of course, maybe they just float, and the branches sticking up look like Nessie. Fine. You can even argue that nearby lochs with pine trees have their own monster stories, while non-piney lochs will brook no such nonsense. But we can create a much weirder theory than that. Suppose some of these logs are covered in sticky pine resin. As they decompose, they fill with gas, but the resin keeps the gases sealed inside. At some point, though, they decompose too much and the seal breaks. All that stored up, pressurized gas jets out one end of the log, propelling the log (and its Nessie-headed branches) along the surface at some speed, creating a wake and, to some witnesses, a terrifying monster. Rocket log! Theory Five: Nessie is dead. There are two parts to this theory, one hilarious, one tragic. In part one, a team of Yorkshire zoologists head to the loch in 1972 on a monster-hunting adventure. Locals soon direct them to a massive carcass floating in the water, which they retrieve and load into a van for further research. Alarming descriptions of the beast emerge (a bear's head, scales, claws). However, police stop the van and confiscate the corpse under a law forbidding removal of unknown creatures from Loch Ness. The stunning find is ameliorated when one of the zoologist's colleagues admits to dumping the intentionally disfigured corpse of a bull seal into the loch to fool them, never expecting the police to get involved. In part two, Robert Rines spends several decades of his life and no small amount of money hunting the Loch Ness Monster. After seeing the beast in person in 1971, all he got for years of effort was a variety of odd sonar contacts. When even those stop showing up in the mid-2000s, Rines finally gives up. But despite the mountain of evidence against the existence of Nessie, and the fact that he himself was unable to find anything in the loch, he refuses to give up his belief in the creature's existence. Rines simply claims that it had become extinct due to global warming. An honorable mention must go to the "Surgeon's Photo" hoax. You can see the Surgeon's Photo in black and white above. It was a major piece of evidence for years, until one of the perpetrators revealed that it was a toy submarine with a sculpted monster head on top. The best part is that the whole thing was done at the urging of a big-game hunter/adventurer named Marmaduke Wetherell, who had been humiliated in the newspapers a few years earlier by fake Nessie tracks made with a rhino foot umbrella stand. The hoaxed photo was to be his revenge. I'm surprised that they weren't foiled by a group of teenagers and their dog traveling around in a brightly colored van. If those theories weren't weird enough for you, you can always try the five strangest theories about Sasquatch on for size. Dow, Bob. "Veteran Loch Ness Monster Hunter Gives Up." Daily Record. National Geographic. "Was Loch Ness Monster an Elephant?" Museum of Hoaxes. "The Body of Nessie Found." io9 Offers $2000 Bounty For Authentic Photos Of Cryptids This summer, io9 is going cryptozoological. We're offering a $2000 bounty to the person who sends us the best authentic photo or video of a "cryptid," or mystery animal. And that's just the beginning of Cryptid Summer. More »

We Found Shoes Designed for Gamers I find it so interesting to see how people incorporate their passions into the rest of their lives. As an example, a typical person might own a traditional waffle maker. However, someone obsessed with Disney, Star Wars, Marvel, a sports team or entertainment franchise may outfit their kitchen with a licensed waffle maker or toaster so their food comes out shaped or branded with their favorite character or logo. We see brand representation everywhere. From using sports paraphernalia as home decor to being walking billboards showing off our favorite brands in the clothes we wear. It’s not uncommon to incorporate our hobbies and interests into our everyday lives because seeing glimpses of the things that bring us joy tends to muster feelings of happiness. Sometimes, we simply see something extraordinary in the ordinary. While Hidden Mickey books show where you can find intentionally placed Mickey Mouse images around the various Disney Parks, I hear so many Disney fanatics comment about finding their own Hidden Mickeys in the swirl on the top of their coffee or in a group of clouds. We spend so much time around board games that we see hex shapes and dice in places like the patterns on the floor. Most recently, we found a pair of shoes that screamed, “I’m a gamer’s shoe!” Last year at this time, Scott wrote an article about how to create custom board game shoes, but this was different. These shoes were part of the normal Lugz footwear line and just happened to have a hex pattern, a design commonly found in modern board games. We’ve shown you a number over the years including Survive: Space Attack, Take It To the Limit, Whistle Stop and Cryptid to name just a few. We’ve shared several thoughts on the various pieces of Lugz footwear we own, including casual sneakers for women, men’s sneakers, hi zip boots, Mallard boots and fashion footwear to name just a few. We’ve always been happy with the various styles and options, in addition to the comfort and durability. The affordable prices are a bonus. The latest discovery is the Lugz Men’s Clipper DLX Oxford Sneaker, decked out with the aforementioned hex pattern and will be perfect for our next board game convention! For those who aren’t as crazy about the hex design, these kicks are also available in stripes. But as much as we want to sport our favorite game designs, they don’t always match the outfit. A pair of Lugz Stockwell linen shoes was a nice addition to the shoe collection, offering a clean, timeless look that goes well with jeans or shorts. Every wardrobe needs a pair of shoes that multi-tasks like Lugz Stockwell linen shoes do! As we roll into fall, I’m looking forward to pulling my Lugz boots back out of the closet and wearing them regularly. I cannot say often enough how pleased we are with everything from their line that we own. Here’s your chance to win a pair for yourself. Enter as many times as you like to increase your odds and come back daily for more options! 17 thoughts on “We Found Shoes Designed for Gamers” No board games come to mind but we have an activity that uses shaped tiles to make pictures and designs. I really can’t say. I haven’t played board games in many years. It reminds me of Viktory II None come to mind. It kind of looks like a Trivial Pursuit piece. The hexes definitely make me think of Settlers of Catan! the Hive game! I think that they remind me of games like Tri-Ominos. Connect 4 maybe They remind me of Trouble. The pattern is similar to how all the players bubbles are situated around the board. These shoes remind me of the game HEX.. These shoes remind me of Catan connect 4 and catan The Lugz Men’s Clipper DLX Oxford Sneaker remind me of the boardgame Hex.

Very Complicated Crossword Clue 8 Letters Very Complicated Crossword Clue 8 Letters – Chai is a drink made from spiced black tea, honey and milk, with the Hindi word for “chai” being “chai”. We often refer to tea as “a cup of char”, growing in Ireland, with “four” being our slang word for tea, derived from “tea”. The spice known as cardamom comes from the seeds of several plants that are native to India. Those plants were introduced to Guatemala in the early 20th century, and now Guatemala produces and exports more cardamom than any other country in the world, even India. Today, by weight, cardamom is the third most valuable spice after vanilla and saffron. Very Complicated Crossword Clue 8 Letters Zhou Enlai (“Chou En-lai”) was the first government leader of the People’s Republic of China and served as premier from 1949 until his death in 1976. Zhou Enlai ran the government for Communist Party leader Mao Zedong, often striking a more accommodating tone with the West than his boss. For example, he was instrumental in setting up President Nixon’s famous visit to China in 1972. Zhou Enlai had died only a few months before Mao Zedong, both the deaths caused unrest and a dramatic change in political direction for the country. Friday, September 10, 2021 Novelist Donna Tart won a Pulitzer for her 2013 novel The Goldfinch. The same novel was adapted into a 2019 film, which bombed at the box office. A scapegoat is a person who is chosen to take the blame in the place of others. The word comes from the biblical book of Leviticus, which describes a goat that was thrown into the desert with the sins of the community. Kigali is the capital of the African nation of Rwanda, and is located in the center of the country. Because of that location the city was chosen as the capital in 1962 over the traditional capital of Nyanza. The election was held on the occasion of Rwanda’s independence from Belgium. Kigali was the epicenter of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which between half a million and one million Rwandans were killed. It was probably 20% of the total population of the country which perished in a span of four months. The Yeti, also known as the slimy snowman, is an animal of legend. “Yeti” is a Tibetan word, and the animal is able to live in the Himalayan regions of Nepal and Tibet. Our counterpart in North America is the legend of Bigfoot, also known as the Sasquatch. The study of animals whose existence is not yet confirmed is called cryptozoology, and a cryptid is a creature or plant that is not recognized by the scientific community, but whose existence has been suggested. How To Make A Crossword Puzzle On Google Sheets “Kwaf” is both a verb and a noun. A “quafs” (takes a hearty drink) of “kwaf” (a hearty drink). Katherine O’Hara is an actress and comedian from Toronto, Ontario. One of O’Hara’s more famous film roles is Kevin’s mother in the Christmas classic “Home Alone.” She also plays a major role in the classic sitcom ‘Shit’s Creek’ alongside Eugene Levy. “Beetlejuice” is a 1988 comedy-horror film directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton in the title role. Beetlejuice is an underworld character who tries to intimidate the new residents of a house that is haunted by the ghosts of a dead couple (played by Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis). The mantra “Abracadabra” has a long history. It was used in ancient Rome in the 2nd century AD when the term was prescribed by a physician to be worn on an amulet to help his emperor recover from illness. “Abracadabra” is Aramaic, and roughly translates as “I will make as I speak”. Unit Six Crossword Isuzu is a Japanese auto manufacturer that is particularly successful in the medium and heavy truck market. However, you will be seeing fewer and fewer Isuzu passenger cars on US roads since the company exited the US passenger car market in 2008. Jabba the Hutt is an alien giant who appears in the “Star Wars” movie “The Return of the Jedi”. Jabba’s claim to fame is that he enslaved Princess Leia and decked her out in that famous metal bikini. The English horn is also known by its French name “cor anglais”. It is a double-reed woodwind instrument. It’s hard to drive any highway in America without coming across a Sysco truck. It is a really big company, the largest food service enterprise in the country. “Cisco” is an abbreviation for Systems and Services Company. Sunday, June 26, 2022 In Norse mythology, Thor was the son of Odin. Thor wielded a mighty hammer and was the god of thunder, lightning and storm. Our contemporary word “Thursday” comes from “Thor’s Day”. The music club known as CBGB was opened in 1973 with the intention of showcasing country, bluegrass and blues music (hence the name “CBGB”, country, bluegrass and blues). The club developed an association with New York underground hardcore punk music in the eighties. The Arabian (also “Arab”) breed of horse takes its name from its native home, the Arabian Peninsula. Like any animal that has been over-bred by humans, the horse is prone to genetic diseases, some of which are fatal and some of which require euthanasia of the horse. Back in 1947, famed computer programmer Grace Hopper watched some colleagues fix a piece of equipment by removing a dead insect from a relay. She commented that they were “debugging” the system, and so Hopper is credited with popularizing the term “bug” in the context of computing. Rex Parker Does The Nyt Crossword Puzzle: Product Testing Nonprofit Since 1936 / Tue 8 2 22 / Late Night Show Starting In 2003 / Moon Landing Acronym / Vaccine Shot In British Lingo Some Muslim women wear the hijab in the presence of men outside their immediate family. Hijab is a veil covering the head and chest. Some people also wear a niqab as part of the hijab, which is a garment that covers the face. Other Muslim women wear the burqa, which covers the entire body from the top of the head to the ground. Edam cheese gets its name from the Dutch city of Adam in northern Holland. The cheese is famous for its coating of red paraffin wax, a layer of protection that helps the edamame travel well and prevents spoilage. You may occasionally come across an Edam cheese that is coated in black wax. Black color indicates that the underlying cheese has been aged for at least 17 weeks. The word “limousine” is derived from the name of the French city of Limoges. The area around Limoges is called a limousine, and it gave its name to the cloak worn by local shepherds. In early motor cars, a driver would sit outside in the weather while passengers sat in the covered compartment. The driver often wears a limousine-style protective hood, giving that type of transport the name “limousine”. Well, the story goes like this… The set of five horizontal lines and four spaces used in Western musical notation may be called a staff or ladder. Either way, the plural form is “ladder”. Crossword Blog: Anne R Bradford “Avast” is a nautical term used to describe someone what they are doing or doing. The word comes from the Dutch “ho huge” which means “hold fast”. The nene is a bird native to Hawaii, and is also known as the Hawaiian goose. The name “Nene” is an imitation of its call. When Captain Cook landed on the islands in 1778, 25,000 Nene lived there. By 1950, hunting had reduced this number to just 30 birds. Conservation efforts have been somewhat successful in recent years. Nene was named the State Bird of Hawaii in 1957. Sabra Dipping is a company that specializes in the production of hummus and guacamole. If I can’t find homemade hummus or guacamole, Sabra is the way to go… Aloe vera has several alternative names that describe its efficacy as a medicine. The ancient Egyptians knew it as the plant of immortality, and the Native Americans called it the wand of heaven. Rex Parker Does The Nyt Crossword Puzzle: Top Italian Soccer League / Tue 10 5 21 / Really In Textspeak / Stage Name Of Adam Yauch Of The Beastie Boys / Signature Phil Collins Japanese Zen gardens are inspired by the meditation gardens of Zen Buddhist temples. Zen gardens do not contain water, but often have gravel and sand that is carved into waves and waves in a pattern designed to create the impression of water. A nyala is an antelope native to South Africa with spiral horns. “Nyala” is the Swahili name for the animal. Cedar is used to build some wardrobes and chests because it has long been believed that the aromatic oil in the wood is an insect-repellent. However, whether cedarwood oil is really effective in keeping moths away is in doubt. “Éire” is the Irish word for “Ireland”. The related “erin” is an anglicised version of “air” and actually corresponds to “irin”, which is the root case of “air”. Did The Fbi Steal Nine Tons Of Civil War Gold? The city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland, is known in Irish as “Bailey Atha Clith” (“City of the Barrier Ford”). The English name “Dublin” is an anglicised form of the Old Irish name for the city “Dub Lin”, meaning “Black Pool”. Tony the Tiger has been the mascot of Frosted Flax cereal since the product’s introduction in 1951. As Tony would say, “They’re gr-r-rit!” Well, I thought they were when I was very young…

Vintage Harrison Hot Springs Tee featuring everyones favorite cryptid, Sasquatch. This pink tee on a faded tag presents a Sasquatch free of care after presumably visiting the Harrison Hot Springs resort. If you're into Sasquatch but haven't found the proper tee to show your belief, this is the one for you! Marked Size: N/A Item is for sale at Barn Owl Vintage Goods in Georgetown. Seattle's Home for Vintage Sasquatch Tee Shirts! Every attempt has been made to document every flaw, but we are, alas, human so there exists the possibility we have not gotten everything. All sales are final. No refunds or exchanges.

Understanding writing as a recursive process is important to understand how to successfully revise and repeat parts of the process! Month: June 2021 Bigfoot is a well-known cryptid, and today we explore how “legends” (specifically Bigfoot) are important in storytelling and language. It’s Joyce Carol Oates’s birthday today. So, join us as we take a brief look at her life and some of her important works. Today, we are going to learn about the author, Robert W. Chambers, and a little about his mysterious book of short stories, and I will try to remain non-spoilery because it’s a book that’s worth jumping into with little knowledge, because, I think, it really maximizes the eerie elements of the collection. I thought I would have a literature-tastic weekend…but it didn’t quite end up that way. Which is fine. It worked out because sunsets are often awe-inspiring.

It’s just now September, which means we are arms length away from autumn. But summer isn’t done yet, so let’s fill some of the time with a new Author interview! Every month I’ll be interviewing authors and creators about their newest works, their lives, and what influences them. This month I’m chatting with the king of horror-noir, Laird Barron! Photo Credit by Ellen Datlow Hello Laird! Thank you for joining me for this interview! For my first question, I want to go back to your origin story. What made you want to be a writer? What lead you to lay out words on paper for a living? Hi, Logan. Thank you for the conversation. I was interested in writing before I knew the alphabet. Wrote three novels by my early teens and filled a few boxes with stories, story fragments, and poetry. The idea of appearing in anthologies and magazines alongside my favorite authors was an ambition that floated around on the periphery. I recall poring over Harlan Ellison’s introductions to his Dangerous Visions books and was impressed that so many famous authors corresponded or hung out. That collegiality seemed pretty swell to a kid living in isolation in Alaska. Writing as a means to earn money didn’t coalesce until I actually started selling stories in 2000. Your new novel Black Mountain released back in May. Both that book and your previous one (Blood Standard) feature ex-mob enforcer turned P.I., Isaiah Coleridge. When creating this character, did you draw inspiration from other books or films of the genre? I’ve written hardboiled characters for many years to maneuver myself into position to depict Isaiah Coleridge. He’s not a regular person, even by pulp standards. Achilles, Beowulf, Hercules, and Krishna, among others, sleep in his blood. Hunters from the Stone Age dream in his hindbrain. I’ve long thought Jules Winnfield from Pulp Fiction and Hawk from the Spenser series were fascinating. Some of my inspiration for Coleridge’s baseline aesthetic draws from that well, and the wells of John D. MacDonald, Roger Zelazny, and on the darker end of the first-person narrator spectrum, Jim Thompson. On the film front, Takashi Miike’s general tone is influential. Peckinpah and Bergman, same. Watch it all and be awed. Michael Caine’s Carter in Get Carter. Peter Fonda was such an effective force of banal evil in The Limey. Refn’s Only God Forgives and Too Old to Die Young are way up there. I’m anticipating Destroyer with Nicole Kidman As I read both Blood Standard and Black Mountain, I felt like I could see the groundwork for future threats that Isaiah may come up against. I’m excited to see how it all plays out! Will we be seeing more of Isaiah in the near future? I’m working on the third chapter in Coleridge’s saga. It’s called Worse Angels and will hit shelves in 2020. He glimpsed the darkness that underlies the daylight world in Black Mountain. Unfortunately, the darkness has also seen him. A lot of young writers I talk to get discouraged with the grind (sending stories out on submission, etc.) and the constant struggle that is the publishing world. Do you have any general advice for any writers looking to get published? I don’t have any advice that isn’t out there. Here’s how I look at it. The places where you are really, really hot to get published are rejecting 98 to 99% of all comers. A significant number of writers can’t sell a second story or a second or third book to the same publisher. It’s a game designed to make you quit. Learn to manage your expectations accordingly. You’ll be happier. Let’s talk about books for a moment. What’s in your To Be Read pile right now? Any books you’re looking forward to in the future? I have read or am reading manuscripts by several authors. I’m also revisiting crime and noir novels from my youth. Chandler, MacDonald, Leonard. J. Todd Scott and Hilary Davidson have excellent crime novels out. Crumley’s The Last Good Kiss is a classic I overlooked until recently. Glad to have rectified that. Will be switching gears and hitting up thrillers soon—Martin Cruz Smith and Frederick Forsyth come to mind. Last question: if you woke up tomorrow in a Laird Barron story, how do you think you would fare? If you came across a copy of The Black Guide, would you take it home with you? And how long would it take you to abandon your place at the Frazier Estate Apartments? A Laird Barron story is merely a possible outcome of everyday existence. We have a border collie. Smart as a whip. I frequently hide somewhere in the house and she searches for me. The best trick is to challenge her a little. So, I hide when she is unaware and then wait for her to notice. The other night I had the great idea to crouch in the dark under the dining room table. I waited patiently. Five minutes, ten minutes, now I’m a bit uncomfortable, fifteen…I figured out later that doggo and girlfriend had gone off and fallen asleep. Somebody hiding under a table to surprise his or her dog might be a Laird Barron story detail. Yet another insightful interview! I’d like to thank Laird for his time, and thank you dear reader for joining me! If you want to pick up any of Laird Barron’s work, go through his website here: firstname.lastname@example.org. And if interviews are your thing, please check out the rest of my Interview series! The first interview with Lovecraftian extraordinaire Pete Rawlik! The insanely talented Kristi DeMeester! The spooktastic Michael Wehunt! Horror’s favorite skeleton Orrin Grey! Artist and cryptid king Trevor Henderson! Haunted radio jockey/author Matthew M. Bartlett! Horror podcast maverick Gemma Amor! Horror author (and birder!) Carrie Laben! Video game critic (and video game Jedi) Alex Kane! Strange story specialist Simon Strantzas! Stoker Award Winner Nicole Cushing!

Size: 4 ft tall Species: Anomaly / Soledade? / Tockhau? / Boog? / A manifestation of a shit post??? Job: Being a meme Likes: Fun jokes, The internet, Cats, So bad they're good movies Dislikes: Angry shouting, No snacks, Darkness, Being alone, People hurting each other Notable contributions: What the heck did you even contribute???????? Original Creator: Gimeurcookie A Gift For: Myeth [Robocoon] Music by: Skiff The next meme is a manifestation of the concept of a meme. For those who don't know a meme is an idea that gets passed around from person to person. The first part of the next meme's manifestation is a simple image featuring the next meme. We have the original image of the next meme on this page. If at any moment the image changes, close this entry as soon as possible, send it in a private message to someone you barely know or care about, and then block them. It's their problem now. Make sure to constantly check the image on this page to make sure you're not the new owner of the next meme. Some decide to simply accept the next meme into their life though. If they do this the next manifestations shall occur. I'M A MANIFESTATION BABY!!!!! Oh wait you likely already read past this part, fuck, I'll meet you down there. The next meme will start to be animated, normally with "bling" attached to it. After a few more moments, the person will hear music coming closer and closer to them. Normally a song they relate to a funny event. Just a few short moments after this the next meme will start typing words into the web page of the user. This is the last chance to save ones self from the next meme. If nothing is done, the next meme will manifest in the nearest trashcan or pile of trash. The next meme is always a raccoon like creature with a shell backpack, but how they looks exactly depends on the edits made to the next meme. Personal touches to the meme will change the next meme to another form, but the next meme must keep their raccoon form or else the next meme that is posted will not work, disallowing the person from using it to get rid of the next meme. The next meme also tends to have rune-like writing over their shell but both the shell and writing do not always manifest. THE SHELL IS KIND OF HOT. BOTH EMOTIONALLY AND ALSO IN THE WAY THAT MAKES ME GROSS AND SWEATY. All videos and pictures taken of the next meme will have the words "The Next Meme!" or "The New Meme!" in them, commonly in the font comic sans or impact. We're going to be blunt, you're either going to love the next meme or you're going to be confused, scared, and possibly rather angry that you're unable to understand the next meme. The next meme is excitable and friendly, some even say too friendly. The next meme loves to lounge around, eating and talking about pop culture. Seemingly bad at understanding social norms, the next meme will fry up some chicken without asking if it's ok and then offer it when the owner of the chicken gets angry over this. Even though the next meme jumps all over people the next meme is actually easily scared when yelled or screamed at, fleeing under objects or jumping into the air to cling to fans. When the next meme goes into hiding the only thing one can do to get them out is to place food near their hiding spot. Tiny raccoon hands will grab the food and the next meme will feast. Once the next meme is finished they will peer out and check if the person is still angry at them with their puppy dog eyes. Even though the next meme is upsetting to some, not many can remain upset by it for too long. I'M TOO CUTE TO BE TOSSED OUT. The new meme loves bouncing around the room, excitedly questioning objects they find, and loves making jokes. The next meme also holds art in high regards, though admittedly the next meme art style can only be described as "crude" and "look we can't put this into professional words, it's a shit post." Many love the next meme for a few days, but as the next meme pops up over and over wherever the person goes it becomes a horrible mental drag for many. This is about the time the current holder attempts to toss the next meme on someone else. The next meme seems rather ok with being tossed around like this, as they feel that they should be shared with as many people as possible. All in all, the next meme isn't a bad person at all. They're friendly, love to cook absurd recipes, watch bad shows with their current holder, draw, and follow their holder around as a companion to anywhere they go. The real problem with the next meme is that, they simply get, well, stale. Where the next meme came from is hard to pin point. Many people claim that the next meme was their creation. Tracing the next meme as far as possible back shows that the earliest known home of the next meme was an account of a soledade who suddenly never came back to their blog after posting the next meme. The next meme got a mere four likes, and one reblog. This one reblog came three days after the first person liked the next meme, and this simple action would trigger the release of the next meme to the public. For the first few days the next meme was reblogged back and forth, with many people talking of a "cryptid meme" until one person who didn't have an account viewed the next meme and chuckled about it. For the next few days there were no reports of the "cryptid meme" and many people called those who saw or heard it liars. That is until a person reported that the next meme had manifested in their trash and wouldn't leave them alone. While this person liked memes, the next meme was just too much for them. The anomaly researchers started looking into the next meme when the person who had the next meme posted a picture of them on the internet and talked about their issues dealing with the next meme. The next meme disappeared soon after. That's how it was discovered that the next meme spreads by images of them being posted. It took a long time for the anomaly team to re-contain the next meme. The next meme was with a person who genuinely enjoyed the next meme and begged for the team to not hurt the next meme. After being checked over it was determined that the next meme was "slightly annoying, but not harmful" and thus the next meme lived happily with the person for the next few months. After this time the next meme asked to be unleashed into the masses again, and not wanting to hold their friend down, they opened their blog and unleashed the next meme into the internet. The next meme still roams to this day, being tossed from person to person until it lands in the trashcan of someone who can truly appreciate it. To this date no one has ever attempted to keep the next meme past them asking to be released once again. The next meme is wild and free. Meme: As a meme the next meme spreads like one. There is only one next meme at a time. When someone gets the next meme, to get rid of it they must grab a photo of the next meme, edit it if they wish to change the next meme, and then put it on a blog or message. Anyone who likes or finds humor in the next meme first, even if they do not comment on it, will be blessed as the new holder of the next meme. This causes people to attempt to disguise the next meme, such as making a picture of the next meme into a "warning post informing people to attempt to not feel joy if they see the next meme." The person viewing it will feel glad for being informed, and then become the owner of the next meme. Only the person who is currently "infested" by the next meme is able to transfer it to another person, all other pictures do nothing, still it's better to play it safe than sorry. • When something scares or attacks the next meme, the next meme opens the shell backpack and hides in it. • The next meme sometimes talks in a language that only some people can understand. Everything it says in this language causes people to erupt in laughter, but anyone who doesn't understand may feel upset and left out. Luckily people who do know how to understand the next meme can explain the joke to those who don't. • As soledade can change into rather strange things, it is guessed that the next meme is a soledade, but the behavior of the next meme is nothing like how a soledade would act. ONE LAST PIC 4 U. HOPE 2 SEE U SOON FAM. XOXOXO - THE NEXT MEME No art currently, maybe you can help.

Dinanthropoides nivalis (Huevelmans, 1958) The meh teh, commonly lumped together with the gin sung—a separate cryptid—is an unknown pongid inhabiting the montane rainforests and shrubby badlands of Nepal and southern Tibet. Meh teh are described as having long arms with short legs, a long barrel-shaped body with a potbelly and a head without a neck set on top of large shoulders. They have hooded noses, large brow ridges, and a wide, lipless mouth. They live in the remote rhododendron forests in altitudes of 15,000 to 18,000 feet and rarely encounter humans. They walk on two legs, but move on four legs when running or trudging through snow. Although sightings of meh teh are common, the most famous one was in mid-December of 1950. Mountain climbing guide Shen Tensing was returning home to Phortse with friends down a difficult trail when they saw a meh teh approaching them. Sen Tensing and his friends ran behind a boulder to hide, and peeked around watching the meh teh. It walked down a hill onto the trail then stopped and sniffed the air. It stood upright but suddenly ran away on four legs—inhumanly fast. They saw it quite clearly in the moonlight. It was 5.5 feet tall, with a pointed head and a hairless face. It was otherwise covered in dark red hair. Only 11 months later in the same area, Eric Shipton took photos of strange tracks of what seemed to be some kind of ape print with two divergent big toes (below). In the summer of 1954, a soldier claimed to have been pinned to the ground and caressed by a female meh teh off the Yarlung Tsangpo River. This was so frightening for him, that he fainted, and when he woke up, the creature was gone. He claimed it was covered in hair, with wide, ape-like lips and visible breasts. In October of 1958, an elderly herdsman named Zhaxitongzhu claimed to have heard bizarre screaming noises coming from the mountains while he was collecting firewood. He then noticed the animal making the noise. He described it as a tall humanoid figure walking on two legs in a hunched over position that was covered in long, brown hair. On September 24th, 1980, a 15-year-old Monpa girl named Yonghong was walking with her friend in the mountains outside the town of Mêdog, when they noticed a strange creature. It was an upright-walking ape-like animal, covered with long hair. The creature slowly approached Yonghong, and then suddenly turned around and casually walked away.

People are super over the super transphobic “#SuperStraight” movement. The cringey term cropped up on social media earlier this month. It was reportedly coined by Kyle Royce, who used it in a since-deleted TikTok video. “Yo guys, I made a new sexuality,” Royce said, explaining that he’s “super straight” because he doesn’t date trans women as they’re “not real women.” “You can’t say I’m transphobic now,” he reasoned. Though the video has been removed from TikTok (Royce claims he took it down after receiving death threats, contracting COVID-19, and becoming homeless), it has been making the rounds on Twitter for the past couple of weeks. Anyone else super straight? Big respect to this guy createing a new thing. #superstraight pic.twitter.com/hdLdeV82xK — MinnieMooTheDoggo (@MinnieTheDoggo0) March 3, 2021 A chorus of likeminded men now claim to identify as #SuperStraight and have been posting about their “super straightness” and why they’re not transphobic for believing trans women aren’t “real” women. (For the record: They are transphobic.) Unfortunately for them, nobody’s buying their bullsh*t. In fact, the #SuperStraights are being trolled super hard on Twitter right now. Here’s what folx are saying about these #SuperLosers… The one thing that gets me about #superstraight is that they had to make up a sexual orientation to declare their transphobia, when in all honesty, A trans person really wouldnt want to sleep or date them in the first place ? — xSpiderMuffinx (@spider_muffin) March 24, 2021 #superstraight mfs be like pic.twitter.com/BeCLaEWHhr — Oh yea yea (@HORRIBLEGAMEPL2) March 20, 2021 #superstraight ?? more like super single ? — future cryptid ????????? (@ogthimbo) March 24, 2021 Why be “super straight” when you can be an “extra virgin” bisexual — Potter Cain “? Catboy” McKinney (@Philologikal) March 19, 2021 Do your part, discriminate against a superstraight today. pic.twitter.com/pdvV7cVPAJ — Sophie Labelle, cartoonist (@AssignedMale) March 21, 2021 Mfs were so insecure about their sexuality that they really had to make up “super straight” ? — L U C I F E R ? (@glacelucifer) March 19, 2021 Pro Tip: Just accept the fact that if you have #superstraight in your bio I already know you are a bigoted fuckmuppet and all you will get from me is mockery and ridicule. — TheCulturalEqualityRaiseroftheDead (@CulturalDead) March 23, 2021 Super straight mfs in real life pic.twitter.com/0BvWFnHy6G — arkansas warrior ? (@liamazing624) March 18, 2021 superstraight? more like supershithead ? — Haru (????? ????) (@bestgirlHarU) March 24, 2021 Average #superstraight twitter account owner pic.twitter.com/sLVR1ywTRO — miass (@miass69) March 23, 2021 super straight more like super virgins — hornyclub out of context (@hornyclub420) March 23, 2021 Being straight is okay, but them super straight mfs gotta go. — TIKI MAN (@TKvsTheUniverse) March 17, 2021 Triggering the #superstraight rejects…. Cry about it more bitches!#stevenfairbanksnewcat pic.twitter.com/OsCebwW9TR — Steven Fairbanks (@StevenFairban11) March 18, 2021 mfs say they’re super straight just to still get no girls — Niime (@NiimeGone) March 18, 2021 I would just like to say real quick that SuperStraight doesn't exist because you're just heterosexual. You also aren't transphobic for not being sexually attracted to a female with male sex organs. That just means you are heteroromantic with Gynosexual attraction. — Connor Noland (they/them) (@xooner523) March 23, 2021 Graham Gremore is the Features Editor and a Staff Writer at Queerty. Follow him on Twitter @grahamgremore. First of all, it’s heterophobic that you’re treating superstraight people this way, if we can continue coming up with many different sexual orientation, couldn’t straight people as well? Looks like we have a new screename for the same old troll. As for your comment. When the LGBTQ+ talk about a label, that label wasn’t invented purely as an attack on another group like Transpeople. Also, let’s be honest, if Carmen Carrera gave him the time of day he would follow her around like a puppy. Literally all they have to do is say nothing. Same with the folks who have the weird exclusionary gay dating profiles. If you don’t want to sleep with someone, don’t sleep with them, but don’t force them to read insulting messages when they’re just out living their lives. It costs you nothing to not be an ass. Maybe you should just question your own dating habits? He must have an obsession with trans women. Why else would he make up a “sexuality” to exclude them. Another example of people hating who they are. The lady protest too much me thinks. You seem obsessed with the superstraight kid, which means you must really hate trans people. And Rent comes to mind. ” more of a woman then you’ll ever get.” The super straight idea is something I’d never heard of before. If a male, who is straight, doesn’t wish to date a trans female, don’t you think it’s their prerogative? I do. I assume their may be trans females who don’t disclose, and why should they. That’s their prerogative too. I’ve more of an issue with the pass for straight guys “no one would ever know”, yes, until you suck their dick. It’s immature. It’s homophobic. It’s transphobic. It’s a hateful thing to say about the feminine. This is more problematic than some guy who will be gone in 15 minutes. I am super gay. I am a cis man that is not attracted to a trans man. I like a nice tool down there. If a guy is on tinder and states “Super Straight” then trans women should move on to the next guy. NO you are not super gay. I am super gay cis male who is attracted to men. All shapes sizes and colors and equipment. Super anythings do not discriminate. Like the other posts say.If you dont want to sleep with someone dont but there is no need to hollar at every single human you meet in person and online how fragile you are. Just move on and if it is that important to you then with your basic fpowers of observation you should be able to tell without having your siren blaring 24 -7 insulting passersby Ugh, no matter what screename this right wing troll tries to hide behind, it always tries saying something like “I’m super gay but….” or “As a transperson I think….” or “Even though I’m a lesbian, I don’t agree with…..” Before it says something attacking some branch of the LGBTQ community. Your trolling is sad and tired. Kyle Royce isn’t anything other than another failed social media “personality”. Goes to prove the fact the difference between a super straight man and a gay man is a six pack of beer! Okay, I don’t think it’s okay to say Trans women aren’t “real” women 100%. But I do have a problem with this article. They go on to demean nerdy and probably insecure guys that have more than likely been bullied their entire lives just because of how they look saying these are probably the guys who are “super straight”. That is not okay people. How about not making fun of or demeaning anyone based on physical appearance or sexual identity. A few words about the bigotry he pushed, and then the rest of your comment defending the bigot. Hmmm I don’t see a problem here. And I’m a member of the LGBTQUACK E-I-E-I-O community. Labels, labels, labels… we’re all people. All the ridiculous labels are divisive. You do realize that you just labeled yourself. It’s a free country, but if you can’t take the heat stay out of the kitchen. I believe the last president, who was defeated in a landslide – just saying, was quoted today as saying that you can get into trouble on Twitter. Pot meet kettle much? ALL of these newfound made up genders, sexualities & identities by the community & we want to get mad when heteros do the same? OxyMORONic if I’ve ever seen/heard. The superstraights & the super gays/lesbians are tired of being shamed for our sexual orientation. I’m 100 perfect for it. I’m homosexual as I’m attracted to the same sex. That doesn’t extend to gender, so it doesn’t include those that aren’t men but who identify as men. The word gay used to cover that. Now it’s supergay. I’d rather not have had the term redefined, but as we’re told language is ever evolving, I guess that’s where we are now. Except nobody is telling you, that you have to do anything differently, you’re the one on here desperate to defend a bigot. Oh also, if you’re going to troll you may want to get updated on all of the hip new slang that the kids are using instead of the word “Homosexual”. But thanks for exposing yourself so obviously. Please Cam, we can’t miss you if you never, every go away. I don’t see a problem. T’s are forcing themselves everywhere, wether people want them there or not. Makes sense to counter that with something else made up. Apps need to put filters back in so we can block unwanteds. And by “Forcing themselves” you mean “Daring to exist”? Cam, how many opposite sex persons who share your gender have you dated and married? Do you walk the walk or just talk the talk? Ha ha ha! What if a transwoman has an operation to replace her male parts with woman parts and does not tell the #superstraight she is a trans. He falls in love with her and later on finds out she is a trans, is he going to dump her? How would anyone feel when they found out that they had been deceived, misled and gender-catfished? A foundation of truth is essential. Not only should he dump, but he should call law enforcement. However, the odds of that scenario ever happening are 1 in a million, since the vast majority of “transwomen” don’t come close to passing. C’mon Queerty, the #superstraight thing is bigoted and idiotic but how about not feeding another shaming/bigotry with those pictures of presumably real kids like in the tweet by “miass” who we’re supposed to laugh at for their appearance? You can’t protest one kind of bigotry while pushing another. Totally agree. You can’t have it both ways. Superstraight, supergay,and superlesbian are just attempts to respond to a facet of rape culture promoted by the trans community. When a group of people decides to bully and browbeat and shame others into dating them, that’s rape culture. Every LGB person should applaud the Supers. Comments are closed.

We received the following report of a possible cryptid in Middle Doe Lake approx 25km north of Huntsville Ontario in May 2010. "I am an owner of a wholesale, retail business, and importer of reptiles. I know all my native reptiles and animals extremely well, but back around 1995 me and Dad both saw something in the water, we were both casting the the shoreline of Middle Doe that joins Little Doe and Big Doe lakes together. What we saw looked like a big rock with little rocks sticking out of it. It was around 3 ft x 3ft and around 12 inches sticking out of the water, so like a iceberg only 1/3 was out of the water. I guess, what was under the water was even bigger. As we got close within 5 ft, it went under the water with a huge swirl, we looked at the fish finder and we were in around 10 ft of water and it was gone. Me and my Dad still talk about it and have done a lot of research with no luck, but still remember it as clear as day. We no longer fish Doe lake due to bad fishing and fish further up north now. If you have any info or other related stories it would be appreciated." Our thanks go out to the witness and his Dad for sharing this experience with us. If you have had a similar experience or can add some information to this report please contact us at firstname.lastname@example.org Your privacy will be protected.

Do you believe in Changelings? How about Little People? Continue reading “Sandhill Road: Strange & Unusual Spotlight” In honor of the Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Expo this weekend, let’s chat about everyone’s first cryptid (they say you never forget your first). Continue reading “Bigfoot” Silver Lake Serpent: Strange & Unusual Spotlight You’ve heard of Nessie and Champ, but is there a monster lurking in the tiny Silver Lake in Perry, New York? Continue reading “Silver Lake Serpent: Strange & Unusual Spotlight” Mapinguari: Previously Extinct? They haunt the forests of South America… and some think they’ve been spotted in New York. Continue reading “Mapinguari: Previously Extinct?”

This morning, I was surprised to see an article on the Bangor Daily News website about “Bigfoot”: the creature that everyone thinks about whenever the word ‘cryptid’ comes to mind. In the article, Daniel S. Green talks about Bigfoot sightings in Maine: a state that is far away from the Pacific Northwestern states where the creature was first spotted. According to Daniel S. Green, this creature has been spotted in South Gardner, Meddybemps Lake near Calais, Durham, Sullivan and Route 1A. However, Daniel S. Green references local legends that are more disturbing than Bigfoot. These legends describe a creature that all the Wabanaki tribes described as a gigantic humanoid with an unending appetite for human flesh and a heart made of ice in the shape of a human figure. No matter its name or its origin, it is a creature that was once feared with a deep, primal dread. The Penobscot Tribe names it “Kiwakwa” which translates into “walks about the woods”, with the name itself being a warning. The Micmac name it “Chenoo”. The Passamaquoddy name it “Apotamkin.” All versions are frightening and all were most likely told around a fireplace in the dead of winter. Some versions, like the Passamaquoddy versions, state that there are male and female Chenoo, with females being stronger and more dangerous than males. Male Chenoo, though also cannibalistic, are more affable than their female counterparts and can be reasoned with. There are stories where humans are brave and clever enough to befriend and even cure Chenoo of their cannibalistic condition. Other versions imply that Chenoo are related to witchcraft, either that this is a curse that can be inflicted by a witch or that a powerful witch can become a Chenoo after death. Other disturbing attributes are given to the Chenoo. It is said to have such a loud and horrible shriek that those who hear it die instantly. The Chenoo also creates its own camouflage through rubbing its body with pine resin, then rolling around on the ground to cover itself with leaf litter and fallen branches. With such a tall stature and dark disguise, it might be easy for this monster to be mistaken for a tree at a cursory glance. I’ll never look at a grey, desolate Maine forest in the winter the same way again after hearing this. The Penobscot Version, depending on the version, state that the Kiwakwa was once a human being. But either through demonic possession or as a punishment for cannibalism or refusing to feed the starving, the human transforms in appearance and height into the tall and imposing Kiwakwa. In post-modern Maine, it is hard to imagine such a grim punishment. But back before there were any permanent buildings, when small wigwams of hide and wood (and the generosity of fellow tribesmen) were all that held back the vicious cold of winter, starvation in the cold was an ever-present threat to survival. Most iterations, however, maintain the idea that this monster has a heart of solid ice. Sometimes it is located in the chest and other times, it sits in the stomach. The icy heart is usually in the shape of a human figure: a cold reflection of the monster’s self. A Chenoo or Kiwakwa is said to increase its power as it consumes more of the icy hearts of its own kind. Yet, ironically, this source of black magic that powers the monster is also its weakest point. There are medicines made and given to Chenoo of an unknown recipe that make the creature vomit up its heart and the hearts of other Chenoo it has eaten. Supposedly, this will help change the Chenoo back into a human being again. Another, more graphic way to dispose of the cannibalistic monster is to chop it into many pieces. The Chenoo or Kiwakwa can also fall to its death in some versions. My favorite version states that the way to kill a Chenoo is to make it eat salt. Even prehistoric mainers that never had to de-ice a driveway knew how to ‘de-ice’ a frozen heart. I’ll remember that the next time I have to shovel a scoop of road salt onto my front porch. Whatever this man-eating frost giant of the north is named and whatever it takes for him to be defeated, the Kiwakwa (or Chenoo) will not be leaving the imagination of mainers anytime soon. Just like the White Walkers of George R.R. Martin’s books, the Kiwakwa and Chenoo lurk in the colder and darker parts of the Maine imagination, reflecting the dark side that exists within us all. The spooky picture used in this article is made by Kristy Hom on Flickr.com. You can see her page to check out more of her photographic work. This image is under a creative commons license.

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In an effort to complete their dead childhood friend's bucket list, Charlie and Elliott meet for their fourteenth annual trip onto the Quantock Hills to hunt for a Jeronikin. Having dedicated his whole life to the pursuit of this mythical cryptid, Elliott longs for Charlie's support, while Charlie is desperate to grow up and move on. Determined that this will be his final year of attending the trip, Charlie has smuggled Alex's ashes from his mother's mantlepiece with the hope that he can free all three of them from their incompletable task. Jeronikin received the Judges Award for Best of Show at the 2022 Megaflix Film Awards in Gloucester. Jeronikin is based on a family legend created by my Grandad. He told my mum, she told me and my siblings and we tell my nephews. It’s really no more than saying things like “I think I can hear a Jeronikin” or “Hurry up before the Jeronikin gets you” when we’re walking on the Quantock Hills and adding no context. As a result, we all know of the Jeronikin, and we all have a different picture in our heads, but we don’t discuss it to settle on a backstory or what it looks like. I love this concept of a creature that a group or community believes exists, but has no proof and all witness accounts differ. With Jeronikin, I wanted to explore what reasons someone might go looking for such a creature, while knowing that it most likely doesn't really exist, thus Charlie, Elliott and their goal to complete Alex's bucket list was created.

Skvader ([ SKVAH-der ] | / ˈskvɔ dər, ˈskvɒd ər /) A skvader is an avian lagomorph; essentially, a rabbit with bird wings. Traditionally, they have been described as resembling a cross between a rabbit and a wood grouse, but this is likely due to a famous taxidermy hoax that was a tourist attraction prior to The First Word War. The skvader is a lagomorph with wings and feathers. It has been described in various combinations of birdlike and rabbitlike features, but the skvaders that have been recorded to date have all had essentially lapine bodies, with a true set of wings that resemble those of birds. While a famous taxidermy hoax has been cited as the source of the tales of this creature, combining the bodies of a rabbit and a wood grouse, all the observed skvaders thus far have been capable of flight, though only for short distances. These wings are complete limbs, which exist separate from, and in addition to, the skvader's four perfectly normal lapine legs. As a result, the skvader often appears unusually pudgy or fluffy, since a completely separate set of muscles is also required to operate the wings. However, a lagomorph is not particularly aerodynamic, so a skvader in flight can hardly imitate the feats of stooping hawks or soaring eagles. Flight is most often used briefly to escape predators or react to possible threats, and tends to consist of more gliding than flying. When in flight, a skvader positions itself vertically, with its wings holding it up by its shoulders. The effect somewhat resembles the position of a hang glider and pilot. A skvader's tail is a unique structure, with twelve short retices growing out of the top of a rabbit's typical fluff. It is used much the same as the rudder of a boat. However, it allows the skvader to maintain the uses of its tail that are more typical of other lagomorphs, such as warning their fluffle that they might have been heard or seen, and confusing predators by creating a focal point, buying themselves a moment of escape time. Retices are also relevant to mating, as are crests, which are specific to bucks and not does. Otherwise, skvaders share the usual powerful hind legs, claws, sharp incisors, long ears and fluffy tails of all lagomorphs, allowing them to chew through even the toughest materials given time, evade predators by outrunning and out-hopping them before they resort to flight, and fight when they must. Genetics and Reproduction Speculation on the possible genetic relationships of cryptid lagomorphs is a hot topic in science currently. However, skvaders have 44 chromosomes, like rabbits, as opposed to the 48 chromosomes of hares, meaning they are likely more closely related to rabbits. This information has led to a recent reclassification of the skvader from the Lepus genus (hares) to the Oryctolagus genus (European rabbits.) Feathers seems to serve additional roles in mating. Bucks and does alike will fan their tails to attract mates, and bucks often have decorative crests, which they will ruffle and display for the same purpose. Bucks have been observed engaging in similar "strutting" gaits to the cocks of fowl to attact the attention of does. In some cases, they have also been observed beating their wings to make a "drumming" noise as ruffled grouse do. Like other lagomorphs, skvaders seem to breed frequently and bear many young at once, often from several different bucks. Breeding seasons vary and usually last for nine or ten months of the year, depending on climate, and the gestation period is about four weeks long. Compared to rabbits, however, litter sizes are small. Each doe produces up to four litters a year, ranging from only one to five kits (sometimes also called "chicks," although this description is technically inaccurate.) They nurse their litters in burrows, preferably dug into hillsides or buttes with good visual range, or beneath thick undergrowth in wooded areas. A fluffle will nest together in a cluster of burrows, but do not create warrens. Growth Rate & Stages Kits are born live, naked, and hairless, although a coat of down grows in within a couple of days. The first moult takes place after about a month, and young skvaders will begin their first efforts at flight as soon as proper feathers have grown in. By about three months old, they are capable of keeping up with their parents in the air, and they leave the burrow at sexual maturity, which happens at about the age of six months. Ecology and Habitats Pliny the Elder wrote about what was almost certainly the first historical skvader sighting in his Natural History, which was encountered in the Alps. In more recent times, they almost became the official animal of the Swedish province of Medelpad. Since their reappearance, they have been documented throughout the Alps, surrounding forests in all six of the countries the famous mountain range spans, and Sweden, with some ranging into other Scandanavian and Northern European countries. They do not yet appear to have made it to the United Kingdom. Some of this range overlaps the European range of the horned hare or jackalope. However, skvaders seem to prefer higher elevations. One credible observation from a wildlife centre describes a jackalope fluffle driving out a skvader fluffle during a drought, so these ranges may not yet be fully settled. Dietary Needs and Habits Although there is no such thing as a strict herbivore, the skvader comes close. Its diet mostly consists of grasses. Captive skvaders seem to share the archetypal lagomorphic love of carrots and bananas. Like rabbits, they digest food in two stages, first producing pellets, which they later chew to gain the most nutritional value that they can. The skvader appears to be fairly typical of other rabbits and hares; alert, twitchy, responsive to danger in its environment, and preferring flight over fight. Socially, it organizes in "fluffles," also sometimes incorrectly called "flocks," that interact, scuffle, interbreed, and protect each other from predators. One enterprising German breeder has been successfully raising skvaders in captivity, breeding for colourful fur and plumage. They seem to have taken to domestication as well as rabbits do, although it will still be several generations before the creatures are fully domesticated. Uses, Products & Exploitation According to rumour, skvaders offer the best qualities of rabbit and chicken in their meat, and there are places in the Alps where you can order roast skvader, skvader soup, or a plate of skvader wings for €2000, €500, or €1000 respectively. Rumour also has it that House Lapin will personally send the Owsla after you if you do. Perception and Sensory Capabilities The skvader has all the advantages of a lagomorph's keen senses; keen colour vision, widely-spaced eyes, excellent hearing thanks to its long ears, long whiskers to feel its way in the dark. These all aid the creatures in evading their many predators. This article is a work in progress, and may be subject to changes. This article is part of a series related to streaming the Game of Tomes. For more information, see Streaming Game of Tomes. It is possible that the skvader and the wolpertinger are closely related. DNA studies are underway, albeit with an extremely limited sample size. Like most of the new, or recently revived, mythological creatures, the skvader is considered critically endangered. House Lapin has listed them among the creatures they will fund protection efforts for under the Lagomorphic Trust. Body Tint, Colouring and Marking Skvaders in the wild typically show agouti or melanistic colouration in their fur, with dappled browns, greys, and whites being most common in their plumage. However, there are a significant number of white skvaders common to areas where snow is commonplace for significant parts of the year. Occasionally, skvaders show more colourful variations in both fur and plumage. While this is of dubious use in the wild, it is highly valued in the newly-developed domestic varieties. Glücklich "Lucky," a rescued amputee buck who became the first skvader bred in captivity by Sable Aradia with Artbreeder

If you’re looking for video game writing, check out Lee’s Scripts and Narrative Design portfolio As an avid table-top gamer of over 20 years, Lee knows exactly what original content needs to shine its best. Rules-writing, flavor text, world-building and more– anything your project needs, Lee will help bring it to life. With experience writing for everything from ongoing campaigns to war-gaming conventions, Lee knows that professional writing can make all the difference. Contact Lee for freelance rates at firstname.lastname@example.org From the writing desk to the table-top… IT’S THE INSTITUTE! For all of the table-top RPG content released under their own imprint, you can check out Lee’s storefront here! Including 5th Edition content, system-agnostic supplements, and monsters galore! The Cold & Hungry Sea A 5th Edition companion adventure to Ginny Di’s Songs to Drown Sailors To, published alongside her album of Mermaid-themed sea shanties. Commission – Spells for ‘Fortune & Adversity’ A freelance commission for Bradson Goldie, creator of the upcoming supplement ‘Fortune & Adversity’. Written in July 2020. Posted here with Mr. Goldie’s permission. CRYPTID: A Game of Small Town Monsters Original game designed for 2020’s Folklore Jam on itch.io, emphasizing collaborative storytelling and monster creation. Reprinted in Tabletops & Tentacles Issue #3 The Rot-Eyed Lady The first installation in the “Reasons Not To Leave Your Home Tonight” series; a monster compendium for urban fantasy games. Includes story hooks, tips on running monsters, and investigation notes. Released on itch.io August 2020 What Happens On The Road (Supplement) A supplement designed to help Dungeon Masters build interesting, narrative-centric random encounters for their games. Released on itch.io June 2020 Dungeon Master Speaks A YouTube channel featuring instructional video essays that cover every aspect of Table-Top RPGs, from mechanics to world-building. Featured in VoyageDenver and at Denver Pop Culture Con. Want some words? Contact me here: All content © Harlen Eherenman 2021

Now, 36 years after the original book was released a sequel, entitled Doctor Sleep: A Novel has been slated for release in September. The new novel will reportedly follow the story of Danny Torrance as an adult. Danny Torrance was, of course, the child with telekinetic powers from the first novel. King has stated that in the new story Torrance is in his 40’s and lives in upstate New York. Torrence now works as a care provider in a hospice and uses his special powers to assist terminally ill patients die peacefully. Somewhere along the line, psychic vampires become involved. And some Stephen King fans even took issue with the numerous plot differences between the novel and the film, including the hedge maze animals which sprang to life in the King story, and were entirely absent from the Kubrick film; the absence of the boiler room from the film, which played a crucial role in the novel itself; and perhaps most significantly, the tonal differences in the way both the film and the novel ended. The novel ends on a more optimistic note, with the young Danny Torrance visiting with the Dick Halloran cook character (portrayed by actor Scatman Crothers in the Kubrick film.) Whereas the Kubrick films ends bleakly, with the Jack Torrence character freezing to death in the hedge maze, and a long, slow zoom of a photograph hanging on the wall, which is dated in the forties, but depicts Nicholson standing in the very front of the crowd. King went on to direct his own 3 part miniseries adaptation of The Shining for ABC. This afforded King the opportunity to craft a cinematic vision of his story that was closer to his heart, and placed greater narrative emphasis on the supernatural presence in the hotel. With these conflicting high profile interpretations of the film, it will be curious to see how this new installment of the stories resonates among fans. Author Bio: Elizabeth Eckhart is a film and entertainment writer for Direct-ticket.net. She still considers the The Shining Jack Nicholson’s most iconic role, and both hopes and fears for a sequel. She lives and works in Chicago. Doctor Sleep: A Novel The Shining [Blu-ray] Join Eric Altman, Lon Strickler and Sean Forker each Sunday at 8 PM ET as we go Beyond the Edge! Call toll free 1-877-677-2858 during the live broadcast Tune in each week for a new and exciting podcast Announcements, videos, discussion, etc. coming your way! 'Phantoms & Monsters: Cryptid Encounters' Don't have a Kindle device? No problem... Free Reading Apps: Your Kindle purchase can be sent automatically to your Android, iPad, iPhone, PC, Mac, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone 7 device. DOWNLOAD A 'FREE APP' HERE! Click ad to order tickets and for directions 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 podcasts! Check out Mysterious Universe Plus+ all access format! Click to submit a sighting report or encounter Free shipping - Bonded dealer - PCI certified

NOW HIRING CONCESSIONAIRES | Check Out Our Job Openings ›› The Durham Savoyards presents Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Yeomen of The Guard Comedy, Star Series NS2 & THE CAROLINA THEATRE OF DURHAM PRESENT The Last Podcast On The Left: Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again Tour! An in depth comedic take on all things macabre HEALTH CHECK: The Carolina Theatre of Durham is requiring all fans to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours OR full vaccination for entry. The City of Durham is requiring face coverings to be worn while at the theater except while eating or drinking. Additional policies may apply on a show-by-show basis and are subject to change. More details available at our Health & Safety Policies page. Last Podcast on the Left barrels headlong into all things horror — as hosts Ben Kissel, Marcus Parks and Henry Zebrowski cover dark subjects spanning Jeffrey Dahmer, werewolves, Jonestown, iconic hauntings, the history of war crimes, and more. Whether it’s cults, killers, or cryptid encounters, Last Podcast on the Left laughs into the abyss that is the dark side of humanity.

Y’all Seen That? – Episode 5 – IT Q. Edwards, 5 years ago 0 1 min read 821 This week we discuss The Tick, Raw, and have an in-depth discussion about Stephen King’s IT. Y'all Seen That? Y'all Seen That? - Episode 5 - IT The ReBrew Network is a collaboration between talented people from across the country who enjoy pop culture, comedy, and stupidity.Learn more - Bad Dates (4) - Game Drawl (58) - Now Entering Cryptid County (5) - Soda Podinski (43) - Tales from the Scary Thing (24) - The Groans of Castamere (46) - The ReBrew Network (190) - The ReBrew Podcast (41) - The SEC Jerks (76) - Y'all Seen That? (99) Leave a Reply You must be logged in to post a comment.

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News, Senator Rand Paul blasted Dr Fauci Wednesday, labelling him “an elitist” who believes Americans are not smart enough to make their own decisions about their health. Appearing on Newsmax, Paul noted “I think it’s this — it’s one-size-fits-all and his idea that the regular people aren’t smart enough… Continue reading Watch: Rand Paul Says “Elitist” Fauci Believes Americans Too Stupid To See Through “Pseudoscience” How Do SVXY and VXX Work? Volatility (VIX) ETFs Explained Outright speculation on future volatility is a pretty new phenomenon in financial markets. The mathematization of derivatives markets made traders realize that they’re primarily making bets on future volatility more so than price, which encouraged Wall Street to create more “pure play” products. The primary volatility products in US markets are VIX futures/options, and… Continue reading How Do SVXY and VXX Work? Volatility (VIX) ETFs Explained Secrets of the Vatican Secret Archives! Podcast: Download MYS147: Rumors have surrounded the Vatican Secret Archives for ages and some think the Vatican is hiding shameful or shocking secrets. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli explore the history of the Archives, what they contain, and how secret they really are. Get all new episodes automatically and for free:Follow using the RSS feed | Follow using Apple… Continue reading Secrets of the Vatican Secret Archives! Poem: ‘Turing and the Apple’ Edited by Dava Sobel Nothing’s wholly certain. A half apple lay beside the bed, bites taken out of it, when his corpse was found—though no one really tried to ascertain if it contained cyanide. After he had seen Snow White, off and on he would chant the haggish queen’s vile couplet. Did he dip the… Continue reading Poem: ‘Turing and the Apple’ Making Lock Picks from an Old Windshield Wiper One person’s trash is another person’s lock pick. It turns out lock picks can be made from nearly anything, as outlined in this post from the ITS Archives, How to Make a DIY Lock Pick from a Windshield Wiper. This DIY project could be a great way to kill some time, but it’s also a… Continue reading Making Lock Picks from an Old Windshield Wiper China, Russia and ISIS Thank Capitol Rioters For Great Propaganda Content Neither China’s nor Russia’s incredible propaganda machines could not have turned out the imagery of the riot and thuggery at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. GlobalSecurity.org reported on 8 January “China’s Propaganda Machine ‘Makes Deliberate Use of Washington Violence” (see: http://bit.ly /3ozpRPh) One of the highlights of the article is Foreign… Continue reading China, Russia and ISIS Thank Capitol Rioters For Great Propaganda Content To Lower Our Nets – SpiritualDirection.com The closing stage directions of Samuel Beckett’s famous existential drama Waiting for Godot capture the entrenched fear, doubt, and despair of modernity. One disaffected drifter, Estragon, says to another, “Well, shall we go?” “Yes,” his counterpart, Vladimir, affirms, “let’s go.” Stage direction: “They do not move.” Nor will they move. Ever. Beckett’s bums, pathetic as… Continue reading To Lower Our Nets – SpiritualDirection.com El Chapo’s ‘Narco Beauty Queen’ Wife Pleads Guilty To Helping Run Drug Empire Drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s wife has pleaded guilty for her role in helping her husband run his multi-billion dollar empire in a Washington federal court on Thursday. 32-year-old Emma Coronel Aispuro married El Chapo in 2007 and since then is believed to have “aided and abetted” the Sinaloa cartel in importing over 500,000 kilograms of… Continue reading El Chapo’s ‘Narco Beauty Queen’ Wife Pleads Guilty To Helping Run Drug Empire Is It Safe To Hold Volatile Stocks Overnight? Volatile stocks can be very rewarding for the savvy trader allowing quick profits from day trading. However, these stocks can become your worst nightmare if you don’t fully know what you are getting into. In this post, we’ll explain what volatile stocks are and whether it is safe for you to hold them overnight.… Continue reading Is It Safe To Hold Volatile Stocks Overnight? The Fearsome Australian Drop Bear! (Killer Koalas?) Podcast: Download MYS148: Australia is known for many strange, dangerous animals, but one famous cryptid from Down Under is the fearsome Drop Bear. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli, with help from Matt Fradd and the Catholics of Oz, recount what we know about the Drop Bear and how to protect ourselves against it. Get all… Continue reading The Fearsome Australian Drop Bear! (Killer Koalas?)

|Cryptozoology, BioForteana, Zoological Oddities, Unusual Natural History||StrangeArk blog| An Example of Crypto-research: A Big Cat Report in Southern Ohio Ohio's Miami Valley is not known for an abundance of cryptid sightings. The area surrounding Dayton is well populated and spotted only infrequently with remnant or replanted forests. There is still a good array of wildlife in the area, though. Deer and small mammals are common, the bird life is rich, and it's a rare hike when I can't find any signs of reptiles or amphibians. Because of human machinations, though, there just doesn't seem to be room for mystery animals. Or so I thought, until I came across a short mention in the newspaper about a big cat seen south of Dayton. Within the next few days, more mention was given to it, but the information was scant. The Miami Township (Montgomery County) police were investigating a "tiger" sighted on May 27, 1994. A Centerville resident had videotaped the feline, but the image didn't show precise details. The general area was searched by police and Humane Society officials, but the search was called off after a week went by without results. The final article gave the name of the primary witness and the conclusion of the police -- the "tiger" was a housecat. Why that particular answer? The witness had helped the police superimpose images of humans onto the tape to calculate the size, and the cops decided that it was not large enough to be "a tiger or cougar." The witness didn't agree, but the official "verdict" had been issued, and so the "tiger" was written off as a wandering domestic cat. I had paid attention to the case, but wasn't particularly excited by it. After all, within the past year there had been at least two cases of pet tigers in the area escaping. Both had been rounded up. I didn't see any reason for this situation to be any different, thereby breaking one of my own "rules." (Never assume a situation is normal until you know all the facts.) I did have four clippings from the paper: (The second critter mentioned above was a caiman that someone dumped into the Miami river. It hasn't been seen since.) I decided to write a letter to the man who videotaped the cat, asking him to fill out a report form, but his address wasn't in the phone book. Rather than call directory assistance, (I wasn't in any particular hurry), I wrote to one of the reporters. She called me in a few days, letting me know that no further developments had occurred, and that she had thrown out the notes on the case, so she couldn't give me the witness' address. I decided to go ahead and call the witness. A few details were nagging me about the police search, and I thought he might be able to clear things up. From that telephone interview, I gleaned several facts: So, the incident was turning into something more than your ordinary escaped exotic episode. I was especially interested in the police search. One of the newspaper clippings mentioned that the police had tried to lure the feline with raw chicken and liver. When nothing attempted to eat it, the police considered this negative evidence. Of course, this immediately brings up a question. Why didn't any coyotes, foxes, raccoons, skunks, stray dogs, cats, etc., go after it either? (Sheesh.) When I heard about the drums, I was sure the cat had disappeared into the horizon. The witness then told me that he had heard of some sightings in Carlisle and Springboro, both south of Dayton in Warren County. I took a day off and visited the libraries in Springboro, Franklin, and Carlisle to search through their recent newspapers and to post a few fliers. I was pleased to find several articles: There were two sightings involved here: A woman spotted a large, orange animal (the newspapers, not the woman, called it a tiger) running through the woods near the Dayton General South Airport on June 1, and another woman saw "a young lion" walking through some weeds near Carlisle on June 29. The second witness saw the cat in greater detail, describing it as about waist high, un-maned, and reddish-gold in color. The newspaper articles brought up the point that two years ago, a Springboro man had lost two lion cubs in the area that were never recovered. A Cincinnati Zoo vet was interviewed, and he stated that it would be unlikely for a young lion to survive the recent harsh winters. My efforts to contact these two women were not successful. The witness for whom I have an address, but no name, has not responded to my letters. I have the name of the other witness, but she isn't in the phone book and my letters, sent to what I believed was her address, were returned by the post office. One of the fliers I left at a library paid off, though. I received a phone call from a Franklin parent whose young son was scared by a "big cat." The cat was about 3 feet tall at the shoulders, sandy brown or tan in color, and had a 2 1/2 foot-long tail. The boy was about 100 feet from the cat, and watched as it walked across a field, turned to look at the boy, and then stepped through a barbwire fence. When the boy ran into his house to tell his parents, the cat disappeared, but they found paw prints (5 inches long, 4-5 inches wide, no claw marks) and "a slight odor, reminding me of a cat-house in a zoo." The boy's sighting was 4 days prior to the sighting in Miami Township, making it the earliest known report. (Not to any surprise, the cat was seen heading in a northerly direction.) The cat traveled from Franklin north to Miami Township, then south and southwest to Springboro and Carlisle. My guess was that it went further south, into the farming communities and larger wooded regions. As I recently found out, that was correct. There have been several recent sightings of the cat in Highland county. I received a call from the Franklin parent stating that a Cincinnati news station reported sightings in Hillsboro. I called up the Highland County Sheriff's Department to get some information. A deputy provided me with some very interesting facts: A number of newspaper articles have cropped up about the cat. These include: Sighting localities and the names of several witnesses are given in these articles. They also show a photograph of one paw cast. When I stopped in Hillsboro, I spoke briefly with the sheriff, who noted that ODNR was analyzing it to determine whether it was actually feline. No one connected the recent sightings with last spring's. There is little communication between law enforcement agencies on these matters. One interesting (or puzzling) observation was noted in Baird's article. A woman claimed that the cat was sniffing around her home on Turner Road and "let out a great big roar, and then it went off running into the woods." Neither a cougar nor a lioness would "roar." What is it? It may be that a cougar is roaming around in southwest Ohio's farmlands, fields and forests. If it was an abandoned lioness or a young lion, I don't know if it would survive the northern winters or not. Baird interviewed a Columbus zoo curator who stated that an abandoned pet cougar could survive on small game and roadkill. (Believe me, there are quite a few deer littering the roads in this area.) The curator stated that the cat is likely an adult, 60-100 lbs., and "would hunt in a circular pattern before picking a permanent territory that might cover 15 to 25 square miles." That last fact is important. The feline had, in fact, followed a roughly circular pattern in its meanderings. The last reports had it roughly in the area known as Pricetown. [1997 note - I never received any further reports about this animal. It's likely that it continued wandering, and may now be in the large tracts of woodland in southern Ohio. Cougar were once a native animal in Ohio, so it could easily have survived the most recent mild winters.] [2002 note - I see that Loren Coleman has noted this account in his recent edition of Mysterious America as a supporting candidate for the "American Lion" theory. Without going into detail, as the entire "extant Panther atrox" theory is riddled with holes, I have seen no reason to consider this account as anything but a transient cougar. Coleman provides no argument to counter that theory, rather ignoring it completely and apparently expecting us to allow the media's flawed "naming" (such as "Bengal tiger") to make us think that stripes or spots were confidently noted. Reports by those witnesses with a good look at the animal all indicated a cougar's coloration and form. I actually have an idea where the animal came from A local newscast stated that a law enforcement officer residing in a small town west of Dayton with a pet tiger and a pet cougar left town hurriedly around that time period, leaving behind the tiger in the police department's care. No mention was made of the cougar's whereabouts I suspect he just let it go into the woods. Certainly, the Dayton-area environment is a poor candidate for any unknown feline's choice of habitat.]

We've seen him as killer, a cipher, and even as a roided out serial rapist--but I don't think we've ever seen "Sasquatch as Voyeur." Until now! In his 1974 sexploitation/Squatchsploitation mash-up, The Beast and the Vixens (aka The Beauties and the Beast), director Ray Nadeau and writer Gaynor MacLaren envision Bigfoot as Russ Meyer's Immoral Mr. Teas meets Arch Hall Sr.'s Eegah! And the results, my friends, are just about as glorious as that makes them sound. Allow me to elucidate: |"It's okay--I'm a SCIENTIST."| It's not the case so much any more, but back in the 70s when Bigfoot Mania was at its peak, filmmakers felt a responsibility to establish their bona fides as solidly as possible, whether they were making a documentary or not. In this movie that happens even before the opening credits, as we join our Very Suspect Narrator*--a Marlon Perkins type whose face the cameraman seems to keep purposefully in shadow, doubtless as part of a Sasquatch Witness Protection program. In a very naturalistic (i.e., unrehearsed and slurring) style, he reads off several reports of cryptid hominid sightings from around the world, while an intern helpfully pushes picture postcards into the lens from just out of frame. Bigfoot reports in Oregon, the Yeti sighted in the "Himmy-Layers" of Tibet, other strange furry creatures in other places--it's an avalanche of HARD SCIENCE. His case proven, the VSN turns more or less directly toward the viewer and intones: "The story you are about to see...COULD BE TRUE!" Which is to say, of course, that it totally isn't. *Nota bene: any similarities between this character and the Totally Awesome Narrator from Brad F. Ginter's Blood Freak (1972) are completely coincidental and awesome. Once we've got that bit of business out of the way, it's time for Serious Sasquatch Action! Nadeau wastes no time, as we see Bigfoot rising from the underbrush like a zombie from his grave, as drawn-on lightning flashes from a clear blue sky! Luckily he's within striding distance of a nice-looking KOA Kampground, where a headkerchiefed hippie lady has just finished an afternoon rowboat excursion and climbed out onto the bank to shed all her clothes and take a nap. Like you do. Overcome by perfectly natural acquisitive desires, the stealthy manbeast quickly lopes up, snatches the hippie, and spirits her off to his woodland abode. To what dark purpose we can only conjecture and fear! |"Holy crap! Topless babes!"| Back to Bigfoot in the forest! Where he's hauling another shrieking girl--this one in white go-go boots and a miniskirt--to his surprisingly well-furnished cave. Seriously--he has a hope chest, a Native American blanket, and all the scrub brush you can eat! He sets the girl gently down on the rocks and then leaves her to primp her hair and look sexy and perplexed. Meanwhile, somewhere in the city, a random smoking stevedore makes a random phone call, telling the random gangster-sounding guy on the other end of the line that "something is up"! No time for that now, though, as Ann--wearing a frankly amazing blue velour jumpsuit--has picked up her friend Mary (Meyer vixen and Marvel of Natural Engineering Uschi Digard) for a weekend trip to the woods. Hold on to your hats though, because now we're back at Chez Sasquatch, where the Big Galoot has just deposited ANOTHER hapless honey into the cave! Lest you think his intentions are unsavory, however: Girl 1: "I think it's the creature they wrote about in the Times! Girl 2: "What creature?" G1: "Some hunters say they saw a being in the woods--this monster fits the description!" G2: "What does he want with us?" G1: "Oh Christ, I don't know! He doesn't do anything--he just gives me food and water!" |Not Go-Going Anywhere| Sub-meanwhile, Mary and Ann have arrived at their cabin in the woods, where random Sapphic sexiness ensues. After half-heartedly lamenting the fact that "ze boys are not here!" Mary starts hitting the brandy hard, using a snifter almost as big as her astonishing, gravity-defying ta-tas. Ann changes into a yellow, crocheted jumpsuit that must be seen to be believed, and Ann reads aloud from a book she finds in the cabin library, All You Ever Wanted to Know About Sasquatch But Were Too Drunk to Ask. Soon they retire to the bedroom, where the girls bunk up and then get down, just as you hoped they would. You're not the only one either, Bucko, because just outside the window, Bigfoot is watching, bouncing on the balls of his big feet in glee and making very suspicious fappy sounds! Which just goes to show, the enjoyment of lipstick lesbian pr0n is innate and primeval. |Filmed in Cinemascope™, by necessity| The rest of the film is mostly further installments of Sexy Time, with Bigfoot always on hand (foot?) to bear witness. A philandering couple drives out to the middle of nowhere to have their tryst--because despite being 35 years old apiece neither has his or her own apartment, presumably--and what follows is one of the most awkward, hilarious sex scenes imaginable. With the man-ape unable to contain his excitement, the couple suffers from a shocking bout of Coitus Interruptus Sasquatchus, which leads to the male of the couple running naked into the distance, arms waving above his head like a cartoon character, doughy ass-cheeks a-jiggling! The girl passes out from embarrassment and terror, and Bigfoot takes her to a more secluded spot to gaze longingly at her and cop a feel. As far as we know, it goes no further than that. |NOT a Sasquatch Sex Scene...technically| "Gypsy mountain madnessAnd if you're thinking, "Dear God, I hope we get three verses and a bridge of THAT!"--well, today's your lucky day! running though my brain makes me do the things I do, Lawd it makes me go insane!" |Also not Sasquatch| Sarah does not react well, shouting abuse at Hank and Ann before storming off into the bedroom. Once the whole group is asleep, Sarah is plagued by sexy conflict dreams, as her astral self confronts Ann in a nude-but-for-the-boots-and-belts old West gunfight! She awakens disturbed, and Hank--first putting aside the squeaky rubber duck he sleeps with (seriously)--comforts her with a hairy hippie sex scene that lasts a good five minutes and twenty seconds--and yes, I timed it. Despite her battle-axe demeanor and Eeevil Demon face, Sarah has quite the nice body, though, so that's nice at least--pity you have to watch Hank's hairy ass thrusting atop it. But life's full of difficult trade-offs. After this, the random stevedore, Frenchy, returns along with his gangster buddy, and we learn via clunky exposition that they're after the gold treasure the hippies have been hawking at roadside faires. There's a confrontation at gunpoint and a near-rape of Becky by Frenchy, and Mark shows his scrappy side by nearly beating the scrawny Quebecker unconscious before his buddy steps in. Eventually, in a marginally exciting fight, the hippies get the better of Frenchy, and Ann makes a break pursued by the gangster. She's protected by a Grizzled Old Hermit Out of Fucking Nowhere, who has the stash of coins the criminals are looking for (?). Finally, tired of having been forgotten by the film for a good twenty minutes, Bigfoot reappears, crushes the gangster, and walks off hand-in-hand with the Hermit while the girls and their friends live hippily ever after. Fin. |Not Sasquatch--but nonetheless awesome| So this movie isn't going to win any Palmes d'Ors, but I have to tell you I loved it from beginning to end. The score ranges from Very Dramatic Strings to the Mr. Magoo Suite, the acting is amateur and over the top (most entertainingly from the argumentative Sarah, whose screen credit is sadly unclear), and at 66 minutes, it doesn't hang around long enough to wear out its welcome. There could have been a little more focus on Bigfoot for my money (or at least some answers--what happened to the girls in the cave? Who is his hermit friend? How can he stand out in the open the whole time and still be a mysterious cryptid?), but balanced against a hilarious plot, lots of nekkidity and sexyness, and a winning lighthearted tone, it's really a small complaint. In closing, The Beauties and the Beast is a fun, sexy little slice of 70s Squatchsploitation that should have fans of Russ Meyer and cryptozoology cheering. I doubt there's a SE DVD/Blu-Ray set coming anytime soon, but if you can find an old VHS or bootleg, I'd definitely recommend the purchase. 3 thumbs up. |"This iz mah SRS FACE."| More images from The Beast and the Vixens (1974): |Newsweek's design and layout team has come a long way.| |"Roses are red, violents are blue, My feet are quite big, and my...OH MY GAWD!"| |Blue Velour Hoodie with belt and matching track pants--from this fall's Smurfette Collection| |"It took my grandmother MONTHS to crochet this jumpsuit!"| |Studdy McWangerson: Ready for Action| |"I found these two wrestling under a blanket! What?"| |"WHYYYYEEE DON'T YEW WANT MEEEEEE?"| |"Sure, Sasquatch is out there...or so the Germans would have us believe!"|

Posted by: Loren Coleman on May 2nd, 2010 One of the first eyewitnesses I ever interviewed about an alleged Midwestern strange cryptid sighting, I’ve learned, died on Saturday, May 1, 2010, in Florida. I had known Steve Collins well during our early days in Decatur, Illinois. I actually spent four years in the same homeroom with him. Due to our last names being so close to each other in the alphabet, we sat near or next to each other in most classes. A few years after our graduation from Douglas MacArthur High School in 1965, I took my notes of my interviews with Steve, and wrote about the strange encounter that Steve said he had had. He received local attention (although not overt media mentions), at the onset. My authored account of his encounter appears in several of my books (e.g. Bigfoot! The True Story of Apes in America) and others, such as in Janet and Colin Bord’s The Bigfoot Casebook (1982). Today, the name “Steve Collins” is noted in historic hominology studies, regarding his 1962 sighting, near Decatur, Illinois. Even John A. Keel wrote of Steve’s encounter in his 1970 book Strange Creatures From Time and Space, on page 105. Keel recorded the incident this way: “…in November 1962, Steve Collins said he, Robert Earle, and two unidentified men had seen a large gray animal standing upright in the middle of a creek [named Stevens Creek] east of Decatur, Illinois, off East William Street Road. They felt it was definitely not a bear.” The mention was five years before Keel had penned his now-famous The Mothman Prophecies, which was the source of the 2002 Richard Gere movie. Of course, this is the film that Keel and I worked together with Sony/Screen Gems around the tagline, “Based on a true story.” Time moves along, and sometimes the changing news is rather unexpected. Keel is gone, passing away just last year. So many gone are from those days, it seems. Then I was startled to learn recently that Steve had cancer, and had not been doing too well lately. I was able to finally reach Steve by phone a few days ago. We chatted until he grew tired. He told me he’d been in Florida for 17 years, after moving from Decatur. We even talked of the incident in Stevens Creek again, and he affirmed what he’d seen. Steve said he was going through tests, and was being moved. His transfer to another facility was followed by a rapid decline, and his peaceful passing occurred soon afterward. My deepest condolences to his family and friends. Then later in the day, on Saturday, I was alerted to more bad news. I talked last night to investigator, cryptozoologist, and my youngest brother, Jerry Dale Coleman, author of Strange Highways and More Strange Highways. He has taken a turn for the worse, in Tennessee. As you may know, he’s suffering from the effects of throat and lung cancer. Jerry has hardly been able to walk, of late. After the results of a MRI came in yesterday, it was revealed there is a “spot on the spine.” Jerry was then told the medical tests had furthermore found an aneurysm on his aorta. He has two weeks to obtain emergency surgery – or die. At least, that’s the way he heard it. Jerry is in so much pain, he is no longer in good spirits, due to the medications. We lightened up our talk by discussing what clothing he’s already picked out for the Body Farm, a la’ Grover Krantz. That helped, believe it or not. If you are a research associate or friend from his past, get in touch with Jerry, and tell him a joke. Jerry is the one in the middle in this old photo, taken at 123 Longview Place, Decatur, Illinois. I am to the right (with the football) and that’s Bill at the left. 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.

Therefore I understand perfectly what dear Lindsay Selby is going through. Her cat Baggins was put to sleep yesterday. "He was 14 and had been with us since he was 6 weeks old. His liver and kidneys were failing. Just collected his remains and buried him in the garden. I needed to bring him home, you know? He was a truly cryptid cat having moved to Scotland with me the year I lived up there on the Black Isle so I could be near Loch Ness. I am devastated as it was unexpected and sudden. Probably poison from eating a poisoned mouse."

Posted by: Loren Coleman on August 22nd, 2011 Bernard Heuvelmans (1916 – 2001) Illustration by Alika Lindbergh An appreciation of a friend by Loren Coleman Switzerland’s Museum of Zoology of Lausanne informed cryptozoologists worldwide on the morning of 24 August 2001, of the death of Dr. Bernard Heuvelmans, 84, the “Father of Cryptozoology.” Around noon on August 22nd, without suffering, Heuvelmans, passed away, in his bed at his Le Vesinet, France home, with his faithful dog nearby. Heuvelmans, who had become a Buddhist during his lifetime, was buried in Buddhist monk attire during a private funeral at Le Vesinet on August 27. His former wife, colleague, artist collaborator Alika (Monique Watteau) Lindbergh, who cared for him in his declining years, was in charge of the ceremony, following his last wishes. Heuvelmans’ death is sad news. His towering presence in the field leaves a long shadow. His influence is great. Heuvelmans’ contributions to cryptozoology, zoology, and anthropology are significant and far-reaching, and his impact on generations to come will cross decades. Bernard Heuvelmans was born in Le Havre on October 10, 1916, of a Dutch mother and a Belgian father in exile, and was raised as a “native of Belgium.” Heuvelmans found he had a love of natural history from an early age, keeping all kinds of animals, especially monkeys. At school, he shocked his Jesuit teachers by his unholy interest in evolution and jazz. His interest in unknown animals was first piqued as a youngster by his reading of science-fiction adventures such as Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World. He never forgot these initial passions. Heuvelmans obtained his higher education at the University Libre of Brussels. While at the university, he won the first prize for small bands at an International Congress of Amateur Jazz. At the age of 23 years, before World War II, he obtained a doctor’s title in zoological sciences. His thesis was dedicated to the classification of the hitherto unclassifiable teeth of the aardvark (Orycteropus afer), a unique African mammal. Heuvelmans then spent the next years writing about the history of science, publishing numerous scientific works notably in the Bulletin of the Royal Museum of Natural History of Belgium. His interests continued to extend beyond the zoological realm. Captured by the Germans after he was called up for military service from Belgium, he escaped four times before eking out a living as a professional jazz singer and then as a science writer. He saw himself as a humanist in the broadest sense, and he published two works late in the war: The Man Among Stars (1944) and The Man in the Hollow of the Atom (1943). The Germans, during the war, arrested him because his writings offended them, and then the Belgians arrested him afterwards, because he had written them at all. Settling in Paris and more particularly in Le Vésinet from 1947, Heuvelmans became a comedian, a jazz musician (From Bamboula to Be-bop, 1949), and a writer (The Secret of Fates in three volumes, The Continuation of the Life, The Abolition of the Death, The Renovation, 1951-1952). When Heuvelmans read a January 3, 1948 Saturday Evening Post article (“There Could be Dinosaurs”), in which biologist Ivan T. Sanderson sympathetically discussed the evidence for relict dinosaurs, Heuvelmans decided to pursue his vague, unfocussed interest in hidden animals in a systematic way. At the time, he was translating numerous scientific works, among which was The Secret World of the Animals by Dr. Maurice Burton, which was republished afterward in seven volumes under the title Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom. Heuvelmans began to gather material about yet-to-be-discovered animals in what he would later refer as his growing “dossiers” on them. From 1948 on, Heuvelmans exhaustively sought evidence in scientific and literary sources. Within five years he had amassed so much material that he was ready to write a large book. That book turned out to be Sur la piste des betes ignorees, published in 1955, and better known in its English translation three years later as On the Track of Unknown Animals. Almost five decades later, the book remains in print, with more than one million copies sold in various translations and editions, including one in 1995, with a large updated introduction. The book’s impact was enormous. As one critic remarked at the time, “Because his research is based on rigorous dedication to scientific method and scholarship and his solid background in zoology, Heuvelmans’s findings are respected throughout the scientific community.” Soon Heuvelmans was engaged in massive correspondence as his library and other researches continued. In the course of letter-writing, he invented the word “cryptozoology” (it does not appear in On the Track). That word saw print for the first time in 1959 when French wildlife official Lucien Blancou dedicated a book to the “master of cryptozoology.” Heuvelmans corresponded with many cryptozoologists worldwide, as he did with me, over the decades. By the 1960s, most in the field had elevated Blancou’s phrase in honor of Heuvelmans, and Heuvelmans was being called the “Father of Cryptozoology.” Writing in Cryptozoology in 1984, Heuvelmans said, “I tried to write about it according to the rules of scientific documentation.” Because of the unorthodox nature of his interests, however, he had no institutional sponsorship and had to support himself with his writing. “That is why,” he wrote, “I have always had to make my books fascinating for the largest possible audience.” Heuvelmans and his book influenced the investigative work of cryptozoology supporter Tom Slick. Sanderson, who influenced Heuvelmans, in turn was influenced by Heuvelmans. Heuvelmans served as a confidential consultant, along with such intellectual early contributors like anthropologist George Agogino and zoologist Ivan Sanderson, on Slick’s secret board of advisors. Heuvelmans was asked to examine the “Yeti skullcap” brought back by Sir Edumund Hillary’s World Book expedition of 1960. He was also one of the first to declare it was a ritual object made from the skin of a serow, a small goatlike animal found in the Himalayas, even before Hillary’s debunking of the yeti took place. Heuvelmans’ extensive files on the Slick expeditions remained mostly unpublished until he contributed some for inclusion in the 1989 book, Tom Slick and the Search for the Yeti. On the Track of Unknown Animals was concerned exclusively with land animals. The second of Heuvelmans’ landmark works to be translated into English, In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents (1968), covered the ocean’s unknowns, including the recognized but still in some ways enigmatic giant squid. In 1968, Heuvelmans (at Sanderson’s invitation) examined what was represented to be the frozen cadaver of a hairy hominoid, the subject of his L’homme de Neanderthal est toujours vivant (with Boris Porshnev, 1974). Other books, none yet translated into English, include works on surviving dinosaurs and relict hominids in Africa. Heuvelmans’s Center for Cryptozoology, established in 1975, was first housed near Le Bugue in the south of France, but in the 1990s, moved to LeVesinet, closer to Paris. It consisted of his huge private library and his massive files, his original treasured dossiers. Heuvelmans was elected president when the International Society of Cryptozoology was founded in Washington, D.C., in 1982. He held that position until his death. He also was involved with the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club and other efforts for active cryptid studies globally. The decades saw more and more honors amassed, as for example, when in 1990, he was named a honorary member of the Cryptozoology Association of Russia. In a 1984 interview Heuvelmans expressed the desire to write a 20-volume cryptozoology encyclopedia, but owing to the death of a translator and other problems with his publisher, no volume appeared before Heuvelmans’ death. Down through the years, without fanfare, Heuvelmans journeyed from the shores of Loch Ness to the jungles of Malaysia, from Africa to Indonesia, interviewing witnesses and examining the evidence for cryptids.He produced a few articles along the way, and infrequently gave news interviews. But beginning in the 1990s, he would avoid media events. For example, when a television network asked in 1994 and 1995, to tape an interview with Heuvelmans about the Minnesota Iceman, he refused to come to America to do it, and then denied a filming in France. Although he had had a French television program on natural history mysteries some two decades earlier, he routinely would not grant most mainstream interviews in the last decade of his life. He also hardly ever trekked to formal meetings. For many of us in North America, visiting with him, for example, at an early 1980s gathering in New York City, will now always be a delightful and rare memory. When in February 1997, he was awarded the Gabriele Peters Prize for Fantastic Science at the Zoological Museum of the University of Hamburg, Germany, he was unable to appear to collect the prize of 10,000 Marks (about $6000) and sent his friend, journalist, and cryptozoologist Werner Reichenbach, to accept on his behalf. Heuvelmans’s health began to more rapidly fail in the mid-1990s; still he continued to work on completing his grand plan for his multi-volume encyclopedia. In 1999, he donated his vast holdings and archives in cryptozoology to The Museum of Zoology of Lausanne in Switzerland, following through on a commitment he had made in 1987. By 2001, many of us were dismayed to find he was mostly bedridden, refusing visits, and in very poor health. In his waning years, his mind was filled with worries that no one would credit him for what he had done. He need not have troubled himself. Heuvelmans said he merely wanted to be remembered as “The Father of Cryptozoology.” He will be recalled thusly for his efforts on behalf of the new science, as well as much more, for his personality and scholarship. Bernard Heuvelmans, dead at 84, will hardly be forgotten. Nevertheless, Heuvelmans’ friendship, fresh insights, and frisky humor will be missed. Goodbye, my friend. A list of Heuvelmans’s books follows: 1955 Sur la piste des bêtes ignorées. Paris: Plon. 1958 Dans le sillage des monstres marins – Le Kraken et le Poulpe Colossal. Paris: Plon. 1958 On the Track of Unknown Animals. London: Hart-Davis. 1959 On the Track of Unknown Animals. New York: Hill and Wang 1965 Le Grand-Serpent-de-Mer, le problème zoologique et sa solution. Paris: Plon. 1965 On the Track of Unknown Animals. (Abridged, revised.) New York: Hill and Wang. 1968 In the Wake of Sea Serpents. New York: Hill and Wang. 1975 Dans le sillage des monstres marins – Le Kraken et le Poulpe Colossal. Paris: François Beauval : 2nd édition revue et complétée. 1975 Le Grand-Serpent-de-Mer, le problème zoologique et sa solution. Paris: Plon, 2nd édition revue et complétée. 1978 Les derniers dragons d’Afrique. Paris: Plon. 1980 Les bêtes humaines d’Afrique. Paris: Plon. 1995 On the Track of Unknown Animals. London: Kegan Paul International. Heuvelmans, Bernard, and Boris F. Porchnev 1974 L’homme de Néanderthal est toujours vivant. Paris, Plon. ©2001 Loren Coleman 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.

In 2011, writer Joey Esposito and artist Jonathan Moore kickstartedFootprints, a four-issue, hard-boiled detective comic that followed Bigfoot, the Jersey Devil and other cryptids as they investigated the death of a Yeti. Now the duo has returned to that world — and to Kickstarter — for a one-shot subtitled “Bad Luck Charm.” “The one-shot features two new tales — one set before the events of Vol. 1 and one set after,” Esposito told ROBOT 6. “The first story, given away for free on the Kickstarter campaign, features the oafish Jersey Devil and Vol. 1’s big bad, Motheresa, heading to 1962 to Las Vegas to try their luck. The second story will catch up with Foot, Nessy, Devil and Choop as they investigate a new cryptid emerging in the swamps of South Carolina, the Lizard Man.” Esposito provided ROBOT 6 with that first story, which is posted in its entirety below. If you’d like to see the second one (and get your hands on a digital copy of the first Footprints collection, which is included at every reward level above $15), check out the Kickstarter campaign.

Ghoulies. Ghosties. Long-legged beasties. Things that go bump in the night... The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity-and humanity from them. Enter Verity Price. Despite being trained from birth as a cryptozoologist, she'd rather dance a tango than tangle with a demon, and is spending a year in Manhattan while she pursues her career in professional ballroom dance. Sounds pretty simple, right? It would be, if it weren't for the talking mice, the telepathic mathematicians, the asbestos supermodels, and the trained monster-hunter sent by the Price family's old enemies, the Covenant of St. George. When a Price girl meets a Covenant boy, high stakes, high heels, and a lot of collateral damage are almost guaranteed. To complicate matters further, local cryptids are disappearing, strange lizard-men are appearing in the sewers, and someone's spreading rumors about a dragon sleeping underneath the city.. A new series by McGuire, and of course I had to read it. But that also means that I compare it to her October series. It was good, but so far not as strong. Still will I buy book 2? Of course! In this world there are monsters of every sort, but humans do not know. Who does know is The Covenant, a bunch of creepy fanatics who thinks it's God's Will that all monsters are killed. Whether they are cute innocent talking mice or monsters that do kill. But that does not matter as Cryptids (the monsters) are not meant to be. I like good bad guys, and creepy religious fanatics makes for good baddies. And I can hate them as much as I want. On to our heroine, Verity Price. Whose family left the Covenant to protect innocent cryptids. She is a ballroom dancer (and bwt the costume she has on makes sense when you learn more about her job). She is kick-ass, nice, smart and has a home filled with mice. Oh I loved the mice! Her friend and cousin is a telepath (comes in handy), she meets a cute buy who is Covenant and who means to kill every cryptid in NYC (not good). Someone is killing cryptids and the chase is on. Non stop action, a tiny bit of passion and there you have it, our story. A nice beginning to a new series. Series: InCryptid #1 Genre: urban Fantasy Published: 2012 by Daw

Okay, the only reason I joined this site is to get my story out in the open to people who might believe me. Here's what happened: I woke up about 6 a.m on june 2nd. I live in Lawrence Township of Indianapolis, IN. That's all I feel safe divulging for the moment. The sun was just starting to come up and I was fixing breakfast. I let my dog outside to pee and went to use the bathroom myself. The bathroom window faces my backyard. The lights in the bathroom were off because the sun was starting to shine through. While I was washing my hands the sun was blocked out for a moment, like something ran in front of my window. I looked out and briefly saw something black run behind my garage. I thought it was a person, so i went to see what it was. I ran to my backdoor and opened it. My dog was on the other side shaking. I thought the person hurt my dog so when I went outside, I grabbed a broom to take with me. I slowly walked around the side of my garage, and that's when I saw it. At first, I thought it was a person with something on their back. I asked "What the hell are you doing?!?" Real quick to scare and get it's attention. The thing turned around and I came face to face with this nasty looking bird. This thing was completely black. Like a crow. Except it was built like a vulture because of the way it stood and the way it's neck leaned forward. And it's face looked a lot like an emu except it was all ragid and wrinkled. And it's beak was slightly curved. Then...it flew away. That's all I can say. It's eyes were sort of a maroonish tint. Now, I'm six foot four and I was staring this thing directly in the face. I felt like I was staring at a human being because it kept eye contact with me. It was bird-like in many ways. It kept turning it's head like it was confused as to what it was looking at. I looked down at it's feet and saw it had feet like a bird. I was going to hit it with the broom but didn't because I didn't really know what it was or what affect hitting it with a broom would have. So, I let the broom drop. This scared the hell out of the bird! It opened it's wings, and there was bright red markings on the inside. It didn't make a noise, but it did flap it's wings really hard. I could feel the wind coming from the flapping and squinted my eyes. I opened them and this thing was in my face. It smelled awful". Upon further questioning, Ryan revealed that he is 17 years old. His parents were on vacation at the time of the sighting. He lives in a suburban/rural area in Lawrence Township. He believes that the giant bird was after his daschund/yorkie mix, which is a relatively small dog. He does not want to ascribe anything mystical to the creature, but said that it was "just a big, dumb bird"--although he goes on to say that he believes that it could have taken him in a fight. Ryan continues; "This thing also had to be taller than me (6 feet four inches) because I was looking it dead in the face when it's neck was hunched forward. It did not make any noise through it's mouth. The only noise it made was from flapping its giant wings. When this thing took off, it ran a bit, then flew away. It went up in the air at an angle and just sort of disappeared out of my view". He estimates the wingspan of the cryptid to have been approximately 25 feet. Ryan is scouring the internet to try to identify what this flying creature was. If anyone has questions or suggestions about the sighting, they can contact him at:firstname.lastname@example.org My story takes place in either May or June of 1996. I was newly married and my husband and I bought a brand new house out in Rialto, California. If you drive by there now, there are houses everywhere, but back in 1996 there weren't that many and there were still lots and lots of open space. I worked in L.A. and had a two-hour drive home every night. Since our house was brand new, there were no curtains. We had so many windows, and curtains were so expensive that we could only afford to buy one room at a time. The room I hated the most to be in at night was the kitchen because the window above the sink was huge and, of course, we had not yet purchased curtains for it yet. When you looked out, all you could see was pitch black. I would refrain from looking outside because I was always afraid that one day I was going to look up and see some maniac's face staring at me fiendishly. Well, that never happened, but guess what did? It must have been around 10 p.m. and I was still opening boxes, cleaning, cooking, and washing. I was walking through the kitchen into the den when some movement outside caught my eye. The moon was bright and the neighbors had their backyard lights on, so there was good visibility. When I looked out at the movement that caught my eye (and I know this sounds weird), but I saw a big "dog" walking along the back fence. When I say a big dog, I mean one that has a long body, like a husky or German shepherd. It was a big, long dog just walking along the fence with its head down, as if it were sniffing (just like you would see a normal dog doing at the park). I didn't know my neighbors yet, so I figured one of them must have a table near the fence and the pooch probably just climbed up and liked to walk around up there. I noticed this, but continued walking into the den, and then it hit me. The back fence doesn't have a rim or edge for anything to walk around on. It was wooden and stood straight up, like the typical wooden fence does. A sudden chill came over me, so I walked back to the window and looked out at the back fence. Only the "dog" was no longer a dog. This "thing" - whatever it was - was perched on the back fence and looking straight at me! It looked like a big buzzard. I remember the old cartoons of Buzz Buzzard and that's what it looked like to me. I saw a long neck and a big body. I froze when I saw it and stood there for a few seconds. I then moved a little to my left and its head moved where I moved to. So I moved a little to the right and again it followed my movements to the right. I remember saying to myself, "If that thing flies through the window and gets in here, I'm a goner." I had no weapons and no way to fend off some nightmarish creature that looked like it was straight out of a horror film. Then the freakiest thing happened. the "thing" had wings and opened them up like a huge kite. My God, I nearly passed out! It spread its wings and leapt up into the sky. I was shaking at this point and started to cry. I know what I had seen and it was no dog and it was not my imagination. I was then afraid to go upstairs to my bedroom because there were no curtains up in our room yet. I had bought some cheap towels and hung them there until we could afford the curtains. I left all the lights on and stayed in the one and only room that did have curtains. It was the small bedroom my step-son would be staying in, so we put curtains there first. Where was my husband, you ask? Well he worked swing shift and didn't get home until around 1 a.m. and sometimes later. For those of you who know the area, I lived on Via Verde Street just off the 15 freeway before you go into the mountains and out to Vegas. I forget the name of the exit, but it was the one after Baseline. At that time, the whole Chupacabras thing was starting in Puerto Rico. I truly believe this was one of those. What else has wings, a long body like a dog, and a long neck (at least that's how some have described it that have seen it)? Since it was so dark outside that night, I couldn't tell if the creature had feathers or dark fur. All I could tell was that its body was big and black. I still remember it as if it were yesterday and it still makes my eyes tear up from the shock.....About.com A prehistoric-looking creature flies over an island in Papua New Guinea, according to psychologist Brian Hennessy. LONG BEACH, Calif./EWORLDWIRE/June 8, 2007 --- A psychologist at a university in Central China asserts that he saw, in 1971, a prehistoric-looking creature flying in Papua New Guinea. Brian Hennessy of the Chongqing University of Medical Sciences described the creature as black or dark brown with a "longish narrow tail" and a beak that was "indistinguishable from the head." In the daylight of an early morning on Bougainville Island, on a dirt road that led down to the coast, Hennessy heard a slow "flapping" and looked up to see a "very big" creature with a "horn" at the back of its head. There was "not a feather in sight." After thirty-five years, in the summer of 2006, a friend of Hennessy referred him to the American, Jonathan Whitcomb, author of the book "Searching for Ropens," who interviewed him. The eyewitness account was added to the second edition of the book, which was published on May 30, 2007. Until 2006, Hennessy had been unaware of cryptozoological expeditions related to what he had seen. (Whitcomb's book tells how, in the 1990's, a few Americans began investigating, in Papua New Guinea, creatures described like living pterosaurs, commonly called, by Americans, "pterodactyls.") Hennessy was also unaware that many natives have names for giant flying creatures: One of those names is "ropen." The American author noticed similarities between Hennessy's description and that of a creature reported 500 miles to the west, near Finschhafen, Papua New Guinea, twenty-seven years earlier. In 1944, Duane Hodgkinson, now living in Montana, saw a giant "prehistoric" creature flying over a clearing where he and another soldier were standing. Whitcomb had interviewed Hodgkinson in 2004 and realized, two years later, that both the American veteran and the psychologist had seen a dark flying creature with a long tail but no sign of feathers. Both men used the word "prehistoric." In 2006, Whitcomb showed Hennessy a series of sketches for determining the shape of the head, including the beak and the head appendage. (A similar questionnaire had been given to Hodgkinson two years earlier.) Whitcomb then drew a sketch based on Hennessy's answers, and concluded that Hennessy had seen, in 1971, the same type of creature that Hodgkinson had seen in 1944. Whitcomb's book asserts that Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaurs live in Papua New Guinea and that they are larger than Rhamphorhynchoid fossils. Hodgkinson is specific about the size of the creature he saw: similar to that of a "Piper Tri-Pacer airplane" (twenty-nine-foot wingspan). The book also explains the relationship between scientific and religious axioms and how they relate to the concept of living pterosaurs. Learn more online at 'http://www.ropens.com/hennessy GARDENERS have been warned to keep their eyes on the skies after a hungry heron helped itself to a prized collection of fish. Bishopbriggs resident Walter Morrison was shocked to find that the contents of his pond had been wiped out within minutes by a feathered fiend. Witnesses told Walter that a 'giant bird' had swooped down and tucked into the fish – including Koi carp, which cost around £50 each. He told the Herald: "My daughter happened to be looking out of the kitchen window at the time and saw this giant bird beside the pond. "She said its wingspan must have been about eight feet. My neighbour also saw it and said it was huge and looked like a pterodactyl! "I'd bought a plastic heron for beside the pond as apparently they don't go into each other's territory, but that obviously hasn't worked. "I'd say all the fish cost around £300 in total so, after spending that amount of money, it is heartbreaking and I just want to let other people know they should be on the look-out." The attack took place at Mr Morrison's property in Atholl Gardens last month. Herons eat mainly fish, amphibians, small mammals, and occasionally birds. They are solitary feeders and very patient, and will stand still for long periods stalking their prey. They can quickly empty a garden pond of fish. I spoke recently with a witness to an Illinois giant bird. She witnessed her spectacle though in 1973, rather than the more sighting-clustered year of 1977. “I am not crazy and I don’t go around seeing things!” insists Joni Grawe. The problem is that she did see something that to most people would be considered beyond the realms of believability. Today Grawe, 49, is a group benefits specialist for a paralegal agency out of Illinois and a former realtor, Sunday school teacher and substitute teacher in the public school systems. In 1973 though, she was simply young woman who witnessed a mind-boggling sight. At this time, Grawe was a typical sixteen-year-old farm girl from El Dara, Illinois in Pike County who enjoyed nature and would often hike the hills and woods of her family’s farmstead. One of these solo treks proved more terrifying than exhilarating though. “I can remember it so clearly in my mind,” Grawe recalled. “I can still see it all today. It gives me shivers just thinking about it. Even now, I cannot believe what I saw.” Grawe literally paused for a moment. I could not tell if the memories were overwhelming her or if she was having second thoughts on telling me her 33-year-old story. She assured me that she had never before told anyone outside of her family circle of her encounter. Thankfully, she continued. “I was walking down toward Kaiser Creek. It was a beautiful summer day. I would guess mid- to late-July…the beans were up in the fields. I had to walk up this hill and at the top of the hill was a pond—a beautiful, really secluded area. Adjacent to the hill is a ‘holler’ surrounded by trees. When I was nearing the hill, I heard this trumpet-like screech. It was so strange, unlike anything I had ever heard before.” “And then I saw them, there were three of them, two big ones and a little one. I say ‘little’, but there was nothing little about it! They were the biggest most frightening birds I have ever seen. The big ones were literally as big as a person standing there. Not thin like a stork, but huge—thick as a person. They looked prehistoric. They were all gray colored, wrinkly-skinned and matted. Their beaks were not ridiculously long, not like a heron’s, and somewhat hooked. Their heads were feathered, not bald like a buzzard.” “The two big ones were smart enough to roost on the ground, but the little one—the child I assume—seemed more naïve. It tried to perch on a tree. This was a thin tree, but it had to be forty feet tall. The tree buckled—completely bent—under the little bird’s weight!” “I dropped to the ground just shaking in fear and tried to hide in the beans. I guess it worked, because they didn’t act like they saw me. The big ones started flapping their wings and the earth was literally reverberating from it—the beans were waving! The wingspan must have been at least twelve feet. I just started praying ‘Oh my God protect me!’” Grawe remained in the beans for several more minutes until the three creatures—with mighty, wind-creating flaps of their wings—departed via flight. Grawe ran the whole half of a mile home in shock and terror from what she wad just witnessed. She had just become the area’s first observer of a “bigclaw”, a name coined by the Pantagraph newspaper out of Bloomington, Illinois (and a clear play off the term Bigfoot) some four years later. Just one more affidavit of the enigmatic avian sightings in Illinois…of which I will no longer attempt to speculate upon as to their origin. posted by Scott Maruna Biofort.blogspot.com

Paranormal investigator and cryptozoologist Joe Nickell has spent 40 years doing fieldwork and research, digging for the truth behind bizarre phenomena like weeping statues and haunted houses. He invited us to his office to talk about the connections between Bigfoot and alien mythology, life as the token skeptic on TV, and why debunkers are just as bad as mystery mongers. Joe Nickell is perhaps the world's only full-time salaried paranormal investigator. "I'm terrible at catching ghosts," he told me with a wry smile. "I have a pitiful record when it comes to catching extraterrestrials." His jovial manner belies the stereotype of the dour skeptic, and he delights in showing off his collection of curios and oddities gathered in the course of his work as senior research fellow for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and author of the "Investigative Files" column for Skeptical Inquirer. He gets very serious, however, when I bring up accusations that he destroys a sense of wonder in the world. "We should look for the truth because the truth matters," he says, "and we should face reality because, well – we can look at the Dark Ages and see where it gets us if we don't. The idea that we shouldn't solve mysteries is foreign to the human experience. The progress of science is a series of solved mysteries." When it came time to talk cryptids, we started with the most famous, the "Bigfoot" depicted in the infamous Patterson film. Nickell has researched the issue and even befriended costume maker Phillip Morris, who claims he made a gorilla suit for Patterson shortly before the film was made. Corroborating this testimony is Bob Heironimus, who says he was the man wearing the suit in the footage. Finally, analysis reveals that the creature in the image looks like a man in a fake fur suit in many ways. "There's an odd double-standard in that people subject the hoax claims to a high degree of skepticism without being as skeptical of some of the outlandish theories about the creature," Nickell said. While researching his 2011 book Tracking the Man-beasts, he found a previously published catalogue of North American Sasquatch sightings. By organizing the sightings and their major characteristics into a continuum arranged by date and location, he was able to see patterns, and a fascinating theory emerged. At first, the creatures showed enormous variation in color, height, behavior, foot size and even number of toes. To suggest a single undiscovered hominid living in the North American wilderness was one thing. To suppose that dozens of different species existed, many of them in relatively populated places like Illinois and New jersey, "strains credulity," as Nickell put it. Then the Patterson film was made in 1967. It attracted widespread publicity and was shown on popular national talk shows. From that point forward, variations in Sasquatch sightings began to dwindle. Creatures sighted after the release of the Patterson film exhibited a great tendency to resemble the creature depicted in the film. This clued Nickell in to an amazing phenomenon – the Patterson film represented the current and ongoing development of a modern mythology. He traces the myth's origins to popularization of Yeti stories in American men's magazines in the 1950s. The myth's shape was largely defined by the Patterson footage, and from then on sightings hewed closely to the myth as it had been established in the public's mind. "We have a propensity to create man-beasts in our own image. You can see this in the hybrid human-animal creatures of Egyptian mythology and other ancient panoplies," Nickell said. "Bigfoot is our stupid cousin from the past. The alien is the future version of ourselves." In fact, tracing the iconography of aliens yielded similar results to the Bigfoot study. Using a published catalogue of reports of alien encounters (avoiding selection bias which may have appeared if he chose the cases himself), Nickell found, again, a wide variety in the morphology of sighted alien creatures. In 1966, the Betty and Barney Hill abduction case was publicized with a book on the case and front page newspaper articles (the incident itself had occurred in 1961). The hills described short, gray-skinned aliens with large heads and eyes. These same aliens started appearing in other sightings from that point on, until the late 1980s, when a confluence of cultural influences cemented that form of alien into the public consciousness. Virtually every major alien sighting from 1990 onward depicts a "Gray." The same convergent iconography can be seen in artists' depictions of Jesus Christ and Santa Clause. What about cryptids that aren't shaped like humans? The most common are lake monsters like Nessie and dozens of others around the world. Nickell has a convincing argument based, again, on data mapping. He plotted the distribution of North American lake monster sightings. Then he overlaid the distribution of the common otter and found a near perfect match. It turns out that three or four otters swimming in a line look remarkably like a serpentine, humped creature undulating through the water. It is very easy to mistake for a single creature if you see them from a distance. "This isn't speculation. I'm not making this up," Nickell said. "I've spoken to people who saw what they thought was a lake monster, got closer and discovered it was actually a line of otters. That really happens." Clearly, not every lake monster sighting can be accounted for with otters, but it's an excellent example of how our perceptions can be fooled. Nickell doesn't confine his research to data analysis. He has traveled around the world and spent a great deal of time doing field research. "I've found that I have more in common with the cryptozoologists out there in the woods than with the armchair skeptics." At all times, Nickell emphasizes that he is not a debunker, and he goes to great lengths to eliminate bias from his work. His goal is to examine the evidence, whatever it may be, and find the most logical, reasonable truth that the evidence points to. He chides skeptics who are dismissive or even derogatory toward eyewitnesses. "I've spoken with many witnesses, and they are sane, intelligent, sober, honest people who have seen something that, yes maybe they've mistaken for something else, but even skeptics have been mistaken." (Nickell reserved no such respect for frauds and hoaxers, however). I asked Nickell about the equipment he brings along when he does field research. He uses a series of kits packed into compact plastic bins, each one containing a specific set of gear. This way, he can use a modular approach and bring along whatever kits are best for the job at hand. He typically has evidence collection bags, swabs, camera and a magnifier with him at all times, but he might also have a stereo microscope, more robust collection materials and other tools of the trade. When in the wilderness for cryptid investigations, Nickell travels light, but he does have the necessary equipment to make plaster casts of footprints when necessary. Television producers frequently ask Nickell to appear in documentaries on paranormal subjects, usually as the "token skeptic." Despite the fact that they often twist his words or take his quotes out of context, he continues to make such appearances in hopes that getting some skeptical thought on the air is better than none. To provide an idea of the attitude that these production companies hold, he relates a story about an episode of MonsterQuest filmed in Montreal about unidentified flying humanoids. The segment producer took him for out for dinner and a few drinks that evening and told him, "When I asked the MonsterQuest production head if I could use Joe Nickell in this episode, he said, ‘Sure, but hopefully he won't be too convincing this time.'" Another time, Nickell was asked to describe the legend of the Hope Diamond Curse, which he did enthusiastically. Then he was asked to explain why he thought the curse wasn't real. They included only the first half, making it seem as if he wholeheartedly believed in the curse. "Don't get your science from crappy TV shows," Nickell said. "If someone has convincing findings, it will appear in one of the science journals. These paranormal shows are as real as wrestling."

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s a blimp and it’s looking for Bigfoot. There are two kinds of people in this world: those who believe Bigfoot is real and those who don’t. Idaho State University anthropologist Jeffrey Meldrum is firmly in the I Believe camp, and he is taking to the skies, via blimp, in one of the most elaborate hunts yet to prove the doubters wrong. Meldrum, author of Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science, got the idea for the blimp-based search from William Barnes, a Utah man who claims to have encountered Bigfoot in 1997 in Northern California. Barnes pitched the idea to Meldrum and the two are now collaborating on what they’ve called the Falcon Project — a remote-controlled airship they hope will take flight next spring, sweeping remote wilderness areas for proof of Bigfoot’s existence. In order to achieve his goal, though, Meldrum needs to raise $300,000-plus in private donations to build the dirigible, according to Reuters. While the University of Idaho gave the project the go-ahead, Meldrum has to find funds for the project himself. The money he raises will not only get him a blimp but will also be used to equip it with a thermal-imaging camera to capture evidence of the manlike ape (or apelike man) hiding under the trees. According to Reuters, getting financial support for the venture has been slow going. However, with the popularity of Animal Planet’s show Finding Bigfoot, it seems only a matter of time until a television channel steps in to fund the expedition. In fact, Meldrum told Reuters that two cable channels are already vying for rights to produce a reality series following the expedition. Heck, we’d watch it. Meldrum isn’t the only scientist looking for the hairy cryptid. Last year, more than a dozen “experts” traveled to Russia for a daylong conference, after which they announced they’d proved the existence of Yeti (Bigfoot’s Russian cousin) with 95% certainty.

We’re nearing the completion of the Spring Reading Thing 2009. I’ve completed the majority of my list, and have at least begun the remainders. But I’ve been letting vagabond books meander into my pile as of late. I suppose it was inevitable. I’ve never read straight from a book list before; why did I think I would now? In addition to the books I said I would read, I’m also now reading: 1. Planet Google about how Google is taking over the world (well, something like that). 2. Blue like Jazz because a friend said it was one of the two most life-changing books she’s ever read, and I couldn’t wait any longer to see what she meant. 3. The Divine Conspiracy because we may have a church class on it this summer, and even though I’ve read it before, I’ve forgotten what it’s about. I do remember I liked it; does that count? No. 4. The Cryptid Hunters because several of Roland Smith’s books were recommended as great teen readers, and my husband and daughter have both enjoyed all 3 of the Roland Smith novels we’ve checked out so far, including this one. 5. The Noticer by Andy Andrews because I’ve always wanted to read his works, and I keep hearing great things about this book (and a great project—more later) and Thomas Nelson Publishers made an offer for free reading to those who’ll write a book review on it. Are they nuts? It’s a win-win. 6. and Every Day Deserves a Chance because I saw it at the library and it’s by Max Lucado and, well, isn’t that reason enough? Yes.

Now, South Tyneside is the smallest Metropolitan Borough in the country and you'd think its residents would be pleased to brag about one cryptid, let alone seven. However, against all the odds it seems another cryptozoological conundrum may have to be added to our rich and varied folklore. Two years ago whilst chatting to Ronan Coghlan, I purchased a copy of his book A Dictionary of Cryptozoology, (Xiphos Books, 2004) and have to confess it's one of the most fascinating tomes I've ever come across. Now, here's the funny bit, and for those of you who are of a delicate disposition I'd advise you to avoid reading the following paragraph and simply skip to the one that succeeds it. My writing partner Darren W. Ritson paid me a visit last week as we had quite a bit of work to do on a book manuscript we're working on. Suddenly I felt a sudden urge to pay a visit to the Little Boys' Room, as they say, and had a gut instinct that my sojourn there might be somewhat protracted. I tend to get bored sitting on the loo, and so I made a quick detour into my study to find something to read whilst nature took its course. On a whim, I settled upon Ronan's book. As the muscles in the lower part of my torso set about their business, I fascinated myself by imbibing strange tales of the Antarctic Narwhal, the Hairy Fish and the Sherwood Forest Thing. Then, without warning, my eyes were drawn to a short entry entitled, South Shields Crab. As I only live a very short distance from South Shields and have written literally hundreds of articles concerning its Fortean history, I must be forgiven for becoming somewhat excited. After a brief distraction with something soft, strong and very, very long – you've seen it on the TV ads, so kindly refrain from making up sordid jokes, if you don't mind – I decided that the matter would have to be looked into further (Look, I've told you; no sordid jokes). According to Ronan, the possibility exists that a hitherto unrecognised species of crab might be living off our coastline, although he does acknowledge that it could just possibly be, "a colour variation of a known species." Well, I've heard tales about these mystery crabs before, and they fascinate me. Some years ago I had several engaging conversations with the late archaeologist Evelyn Waugh-Almond (she was alive then, for the record) and she told me that just off the northerly aspect of Marsden Bay, at the rocky outcrop known as Velvet Beds or Camel Island, there were "crabs living unknown to man". Now back in Victorian times, Velvet Beds was a favourite pic-nic spot. Hordes of mothers, fathers and their offspring would go there with meat pies, ham sandwiches and tubs of potted brawn to take in the sea air, which was said to be most efficacious in the treatment of the humours and, if you were unfortunate enough to have them, the vapours. At that time the rock was covered in a thick carpet of lush, dark green grass which supposedly felt "just like a bed of velvet" under one's feet. According to tradition, that's how the rock came to be known as Velvet Beds. The grass has all but gone now – only a few tufts remain – and most folk refer to the rock as Camel Island due to the fact that rapid erosion of the striated Magnesian limestone has left it looking like a camel's hump. But there's another tradition, which espouses the idea that the rock gained its name from the large number of velvet crabs which inhabited the waters around it. Evelyn told me that the crabs "unknown to man" looked like velvet crabs, but were taxonomically different. They were alleged to have a "nasty disposition" and were extremely aggressive. This, plus their distinctive red eyes – also possessed by velvet crabs, I've been told – led to them being given the alternative monikers of Devils Crabs and Witches Crabs. One correspondent told me that the crabs at Velvet Beds can grow to a width of 14 inches, which makes them far larger than the average velvet crab. To my knowledge, none of this size have ever been caught. Trevor Wilkinson, another reader of my WraithScape newspaper column, told me that they can grow to "enormous size". Just how enormous he was unable to say. Ronan references Animals and Men as his source for the story, but doesn't give a particular month or year or provide the issue number, so I'm hoping Jon Downes might be able to provide some more detail on this cryptozoological enigma. I've put out a call to all South Tyneside's craberati, hoping that someone might come forth with a photograph, a specimen or at least an anecdotal tale or two. As for me, I've learned a valuable lesson; even when you're sitting on the Great White Throne doing what comes naturally, cryptozoological enigmas are, like that soft, strong and very, very long roll of toilet tissue, never far from your grasp…

|Sub grouping||Bear dog| The Waheela is a wolf-like cryptid reported from Nahanni Valley in the Northwest Territories of Canada. It has also been reported in areas of Michigan and Alaska. Cryptozoologist Ivan Sanderson thought that the waheela might represent a relict population of Amphicyonids, prehistoric bear-dogs (but which he incorrectly referred to as dire wolves, which were true, but not what the waheela is said to be). The waheela is similar to the Shunka Warakin, but inhabits a far more northern habitat. It is also similar to Amarok, a giant wolf from Inuit mythology. It is reported to travel in groups of two or three, and not in large packs as modern wolves do. In popular culture - Shuker, Karl. "Witchie Wolves, Medicine Wolves, and the Waheela". Shuker. Retrieved 26 August 2011. - Godfrey, Linda S. (2006). Hunting the American Werewolf: Beast Men in Wisconsin and Beyond. Big Earth Publishing. pp. 27–30. ISBN 1-931599-66-1. - Shuker, Karl P N (1995). In Search of Prehistoric Survivors. Blandford. ISBN 0-7137-2469-2. - "Midnight Blue-Light Special". Goodreads. Retrieved 5 August 2014. |This cryptozoology-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.|

Mythic Articulations was created in late 2013 with one goal in mind - to create what nature won't. More specifically, to create the skeletons and skulls of mythical creatures and cryptids. We offer a growing variety of replica osteological specimens of animals that you just can't get anywhere else, because they don't exist (or haven't been proven to exist). Be it the elusive Bare-Fronted Hoodwink, the mighty Wolpertinger, or something else that you might have actually heard of, we'll do our best to make it real. Here you can find various sculptures of plants and bones... and some other bones... mostly bones. I specialize in making mythical animal and cryptid skeletons, so check back regularly if that interests you. If you have any suggestions for what creature to make next let me know and if I like it I'll try to make it. If you are interested in custom work or commissions, please feel free to contact me.

Saturday, July 06, 2013 Ebu Gogo are a group of human-like creatures that appear in the mythology of the people of the island of Flores, Indonesia. In the Nage language of central Flores, ebu means 'grandmother' and gogo means 'he who eats anything'. The Ebu Gogo are described as small, nasty people with a voracious appetite that sometimes included the devouring of the occasional human baby. Ebu Gogo have hair covered bodies, longish arms, big bellies and protruding ears. They were said to walk awkwardly and could be heard murmuring in their own language and were said to be capable of mimicking human speech. When they could tolerate the Ebu Gogo no more the Flores islanders drove the small people in the direction of the caves, perhaps near Liang Bau or perhaps they burned the survivors alive. In any case, these stories were probably told to keep truculent Flores children in line in much the same fashion as some western fairy tales are told. Indonesian culture just like any other has folklore about ghosts, little people and mysterious beings. Word of mouth folktales are handed down from generation to generation. Indonesian village people would talk of an ape-like creature that walks like a man. Some scientists believe that the Ebu Gogo folklore maybe a shared cultural memory of Homo floresiensis but there is no solid evidence to support that theory. However, legends have the Ebu Gogo disappearing about 400 years ago at the time of the arrival of the Dutch and Portuguese explorers. Scientists working on the Homo floresiensis find have also referred to the Ebu Gogo as 'Hobbits'. From October 2004 - telegraph - Richard Roberts, discoverer of the 'Hobbit', says local tales suggest the species could still exist. When I was back in Flores earlier this month we heard the most amazing tales of little, hairy people, whom they called Ebu Gogo - Ebu meaning grandmother and Gogo meaning 'he who eats anything'. The tales contained the most fabulous details - so detailed that you'd imagine there had to be a grain of truth in them. One of the village elders told us that the Ebu Gogo ate everything raw, including vegetables, fruits, meat and, if they got the chance, even human meat. When food was served to them they also ate the plates, made of pumpkin - the original guests from hell (or heaven, if you don't like washing up and don't mind replacing your dinner set every week). The villagers say that the Ebu Gogo raided their crops, which they tolerated, but decided to chase them away when the Ebu Gogo stole - and ate - one of their babies. They ran away with the baby to their cave which was at the foot of the local volcano, some tens of metres up a cliff face. The villagers offered them bales of dry grass as fodder, which they gratefully accepted. A few days later, the villagers went back with a burning bale of grass which they tossed into the cave. Out ran the Ebu Gogo, singed but not fried, and were last seen heading west, in the direction of Liang Bua, where we found the Hobbit, as it happens. When my colleague Gert van den Bergh first heard these stories a decade ago, which several of the villages around the volcano recount with only very minor changes in detail, he thought them no better than leprechaun tales until we unearthed the Hobbit. (I much prefer Ebu as the name of our find but my colleague Mike Morwood was insistent on Hobbit.) The anatomical details in the legends are equally fascinating. They are described as about a metre tall, with long hair, pot bellies, ears that slightly stick out, a slightly awkward gait, and longish arms and fingers - both confirmed by our further finds this year. They [the Ebu Gogo] murmured at each other and could repeat words [spoken by villagers] verbatim. For example, to 'here's some food', they would reply 'here's some food'. They could climb slender-girthed trees but, here's the rub, were never seen holding stone tools or anything similar, whereas we have lots of sophisticated artefacts in the H. floresiensis levels at Liang Bua. That's the only inconsistency with the Liang Bua evidence. The women Ebu Gogo had extremely pendulous breasts, so long that they would throw them over their shoulders, which must have been quite a sight in full flight. We did ask the villagers if they ever interbred with the Ebu Gogo. They vigorously denied this, but said that the women of Labuan Baju (a village at the far western end of Flores, better known as LBJ) had rather long breasts, so they must have done. Poor LBJ must be the butt of jokes in Flores, rather like the Irish and Tasmanians. A local eruption at Liang Bua (in western Flores) may have wiped out local hobbits around 12,000 years ago, but they could well have persisted much later in other parts of the island. The villagers said that the last hobbit was seen just before the village moved location, farther from the volcano, not long before the Dutch colonists settled in that part of central Flores, in the 19th century. Do the Ebu Gogo still exist? It would be a hoot to search the last pockets of rainforest on the island. Not many such pockets exist, but who knows. At the very least, searching again for that lava cave, or others like it, should be done, because remains of hair only a few hundred years old, would surely survive, snagged on the cave walls or incorporated in deposits, and would be ideal for ancient DNA analyses. Interestingly, we did find lumps of dirt with black hair in them this year in the Hobbit levels, but don't know yet if they're human or something else. We're getting DNA testing done, which we hope will be instructive. Click for video - The Real Hobbit From December 2004 - smh - Chief Epiradus Dhoi Lewa has a strange tale to tell. Sitting in his bamboo and wooden home at the foot of an active volcano on the remote Indonesian island of Flores, he recalls how people from his village were able to capture a tiny woman with long, pendulous breasts three weeks ago. "They said she was very little and very pretty," he says, holding his hand at waist height. "Some people saw her very close up." The villagers of Boawae believe the strange woman came down from a cave on the steaming mountain where short, hairy people they call Ebu Gogo lived long ago. "Maybe some Ebu Gogo are still there," the 70-year-old chief told the Herald through an interpreter in Boawae last week. The locals' descriptions of Ebu Gogo as about a metre tall, with pot bellies and long arms match the features of a new species of human "hobbits" whose bones were recently unearthed by Australian and Indonesian researchers in a different part of Flores in a cave known as Liang Bua. The unexpected discovery of this tiny Homo floresiensis, who existed until at least 12,000 years ago at Liang Bua, before being apparently wiped out by a volcanic eruption, was hailed as one of the most important archaeological finds in decades when it was announced in October. The chief adds that the mysterious little woman in Boawae somehow "escaped" her captors, and the local police said they knew nothing of her existence when he quizzed them. The prospect that some hobbits still exist in pockets of thick, fertile jungle on Flores is extremely unlikely, says Douglas Hobbs, a member of the team that discovered Homo floresiensis. But it is possible they survived near Boawae until 300 or so years ago, when the chief's ancestors moved into the area, he says. The detailed stories that the villagers tell about the legendary Ebu Gogo on the volcano have convinced the Australian and Indonesian team to search for bones of hobbits in this cave when they return to the rugged island next year, says Hobbs, an emeritus archaeologist with the University of New England, who discussed excavation plans with the chief last week. Getting to the cave on the 2100-metre-high Ebulobo volcano, however, will be no simple matter for the team led by Professor Mike Morwood of UNE. The blood of a pig must first be spilt in this society where Catholic faith is melded with animist beliefs and ancestor worship. The sacrifice and the feast will please the ancestors and bring many villagers together to talk about the cave, says the chief, whose picture of his grandfather, the king, in traditional head-dress, sits framed on the wall next to images of Jesus. If the right rituals are followed, "then we will be able to find the road to the hole again", he says. A Dutch palaeontologist, Dr Gert van den Bergh, a member of the team, was first shown the cave at a distance more than a decade ago, after hearing folk tales of the Ebu Gogo, which means "grandmother who eats everything". People living around the volcano told him a consistent story of the hairy creatures that devoured whatever they could grasp in their long fingers. The villagers tolerated the stealing of food until the Ebu Gogo began to snatch babies and eat them too. They then set upon the little people, forcing them out of the cave with bales of burning grass. Van den Bergh dismissed the tales as akin to those of leprechauns and elves, until the hobbit bones were found. While the search for more bones is being planned, a political furore has broken out after a leading Indonesian palaeoanthropologist - with no connection to the find - last week "borrowed" all the delicate remains from six hobbits found at Liang Bua against the wishes of local and Australian team members. Professor Teuku Jacob, of Gadjah Mada University, who has challenged the view that Homo floresiensis is a new species, had previously taken the skull and bones of the most complete specimen, a 30-year-old female hobbit, from the Indonesian Centre for Archaeology in Jakarta, where they had been kept. Professor Morwood said it was wrong that the team who found the remains were unable to analyse them first. "It is not good for the Indonesian researchers nor their institution." However, he said Professor Jacob had signed an agreement to return all the bones by January 1. Are Orang Pendek and Homo Floresiensis related...or the same species? Surviving Homo Floresiensis NOTE: Wildlife scientist, cryptid hunter Pat Spain will be joining us at 'Beyond The Edge' Radio on Sunday, July 21st at 8:00 PM. Pat's great uncle was anomalous phenomena pioneer Charles Fort...Lon A New Human: The Startling Discovery and Strange Story of the "Hobbits" of Flores, Indonesia Little People And a Lost World: An Anthropological Mystery (Discovery!) The Fossil Chronicles: How Two Controversial Discoveries Changed Our View of Human Evolution Just the Facts?: Haunted Statue of Liberty -- Mystery Intergalactic Radio Bursts Detected -- Japanese Monster Scroll Haunted Statue of Liberty Dubuque [IA] Daily Herald - 2 April 1896 Unearthly Noises Proceed from the Interior of Bartholdi’s Emblem The Statue of Liberty is tenanted by ghosts. At least that is what the river men claim, and say that the statement is susceptible of proof. They say, and they know whereof they speak, that as the witching hour of night approaches most unearthly noises are heard, as if the statue were possessed. There is a scientific explanation, however, of these ghostly disturbances, but it does not interest the harbour men and sailors on board ships lying at anchor within a stone’s throw of Liberty Island, their hulls brought into strong relief by the electric torch. Many a “fo’c’s’le” yarn has been spun about the midnight carnival of spirits within the goddess. The sailors in the creaking of her joints hear the ghoulish shouts of the revelers. When the night is calm and bitterly cold the mysterious din is plainly heard. The most terrifying of these mysterious sounds for those who are not in on the secret are the spirit rappings. The goddess rivals the most expert spiritual mediums. These rappings may be heard almost every night in the year. During the daytime the solemn figure is as quiet as a graveyard, but when darkness settles down it is easy to imagine that several spiritualistic séances are being carried on successfully in this gloomy interior. The explanation is, however, exceedingly simple. The statue, as everyday knows, is formed of enormous plates of copper bronze, firmly riveted together. The action of all sorts of weather to which this very exposed position renders the statue subject tends to gradually loosen these little bits of steel. The dampness which draws in from the water from all four sides forms a thick coating of copper verdigris on the rivets, eating away the copper. This does not weaken the statue materially, but it affords a certain amount of play between the overlapping sections. The goddess, under the gentle influence of Old Sol. expands throughout every part of her enormous figure. At night she in a measure draws her robes more closely about her; as if to protect herself from the cold. The contraction of the copper sheets, it may readily be seen, causes a gentle motion which produces a very faint rap. But this reverberates through the vast interior, which magnifies it over and over again and lends to it a gloomy, hollow sound. The members of the guard of honor who attend the goddess throughout the night tell many strange stores of the haunted statue. Several of these watchmen have preferred to give up their positions rather than listen to these remarkable object lessons in acoustics. They could not be persuaded that the mysterious figure was not haunted, and all said that they had never in their lives heard of any haunted house which could boast half as many hair-raising noises as the dignified goddess. It sometimes happens when the contrast of temperature is greatest that the groans and rappings are loud enough to be heard on the boats passing close to the island. The sound of hollow groans, accompanied by weird rattlings and other uncanny noises, has frightened more than one superstitious sailor as he floated across the dark waters. (N.Y. Journal) Haunted Places: The National Directory: Ghostly Abodes, Sacred Sites, UFO Landings and Other Supernatural Locations Empire Ghosts: New York State's Haunted Landmarks Haunted Hikes: Spine-Tingling Tales and Trails from North America's National Parks 19th Century Japanese Monster Scroll Here is a look at the Kaikidan Ekotoba, a mysterious handscroll that profiles 33 legendary monsters and human oddities, mostly from the Kyushu region of Japan (with several from overseas). The cartoonish document, whose author is unknown, is believed to date from the mid-19th century. It is now in the possession of the Fukuoka City Museum. Much more at ‘Kaikidan Ekotoba’ monster scroll The Dictator's Bathtub Just hours after Adolf Hitler committed suicide on April 30th, 1945, former fashion model and Vogue correspondent, Elizabeth (Lee) Miller was photographed taking a bath in his tub. Miller had been accredited into the U.S. Army as an official war correspondent for Condé Nast Publications and upon the American liberation of Munich, she entered the city with the 45th division and LIFE photographer David E. Scherman at her side. Lee and David began to explore the crumbling city and by chance, happened to wander into an apartment in a building at number 16 Prinzenregentplatz. Incredibly, the pair had stumbled upon Hitler’s abandoned Munich apartment. ”Almost anyone with a medium income and no heirlooms could have been the proprietor of this flat,” Miller wrote in her diaries, “The place was in perfect condition, including electricity and hot water and heat available and [an] electric refrigerator. It wasn’t empty enough to be ‘sub-let’ as it stood, but a quarter of an hour’s clearing cupboards would have made it ready for any new tenant who didn’t mind linen and silver marked AH.” The photograph was taken by David. Allegedly there is also a photograph taken by Miller of David in the bath. But with the former model looking like she did, it was the photograph with Miller as the subject that became the iconic image from their collaboration during World War II. “I looked like an angel on the outside. That’s how people saw me,” wrote Miller. “But I was like a demon inside. I had known all the suffering of the world since I was very a little girl.” There are many questions surrounding Miller’s decision to disrobe in the Nazi leaders private bathroom and bathe herself, possibly using his flannel. The pair reportedly spent up to three nights in his apartment together, sitting at his desk, even sleeping in his bed, “using Hitler’s toilet and taking his bath and generally making ourselves at home,” wrote Miller. They had just come from Dachau, and with those double-buckled boots that sit in front of the bath, Miller had walked through the horror of the death camp only a few hours earlier. In the midst of controversy following the photograph’s publication in Vogue, Miller said that she had merely been trying to wash the odors of Dachau away. In a letter to her Vogue editor, Audrey Winters, Miller recounts her stay in Hitler’s home: “I was living in Hitler’s private apartment when his death was announced, midnight of Mayday … Well, alright, he was dead. He’d never really been alive to me until today. He’d been an evil-machine-monster all these years, until I visited the places he made famous, talked to people who knew him, dug into backstairs gossip and ate and slept in his house. He became less fabulous and therefore more terrible, along with a little evidence of his having some almost human habits; like an ape who embarrasses and humbles you with his gestures, mirroring yourself in caricature. “There, but for the Grace of God, walks I.” Mystery Intergalactic Radio Bursts Detected Astronomers were on a celestial fishing expedition for pulsing neutron stars and other radio bursts when they found something unexpected in archived sky sweeps conducted by the Parkes radio telescope in New South Wales, Australia. The powerful signal, which lasted for just milliseconds, could have been a fluke, but then the team found three more equally energetic transient flashes all far removed from the galactic plane and coming from different points in the sky. Analysis later indicated that, unlike most cosmic radio signals that originate in the Milky Way or a nearby neighbor galaxy, these four seem to have come from beyond. Whatever triggered the bursts has come and gone. The signals, detected between February 2011 and January 2012, were one-time events so little follow-up work can be done. What is known is that in just a few milliseconds, each of the signals released about as much energy as the sun emits in 300,000 years. “They have come such a long way that by the time they reach the Earth, the Parkes telescope would have to operate for 1 million years to collect enough to have the equivalent energy of a flying mosquito,” astronomer Dan Thornton, with the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, wrote in an email to Discovery News. Scientists have all kinds of theories about what exotic phenomena may have triggered the bursts. The contenders include colliding magnetars, which are neutron stars with super-strong magnetic fields; evaporating black holes; and gamma ray bursts that involve a supernova. Or, as Cornell University astronomer James Cordes points out, the bursts could be from an entirely new type of high-energy astrophysical event. “It is still early days for identifying the astrophysical origins of such common but (so far) rarely detected events,” Cordes wrote in an article published in this week’s Science. Whatever is happening is probably a relatively common, though difficult to detect, phenomenon. Extrapolating from the research, astronomers estimate there are as many as about 10,000 similar high-energy millisecond radio bursts happening across the sky every day. “This might seem common, and it is, but you need a big telescope to detect them,” Thornton said. Typically, telescopes only look at a very small patch of the sky at any one time, he added, “so you have to look for a long time before seeing many. This is why we have only detected a handful so far.” Similar radio signals have been found before, but astronomers could never nail down whether they came from inside or beyond the galaxy. Thornton and his team did so by characterizing the plasma the radio waves had to travel through before reaching the telescope. The shape of the wave is impacted by the amount of plasma along the signal’s path. The astronomers found that these four signals traveled through more plasma than what could be accounted for by interstellar gas in the Milky Way. They suspect the extra gas lies between galaxies, a finding that opens the door to a potential new technique to probe the contents of distant galaxies and why lies between them. The research appears in this week’s Science. - Discovery The Search for Extraterrestrials: Intercepting Alien Signals (Springer Praxis Books / Popular Astronomy) SETI 2020: A Roadmap for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Beyond Contact: A Guide to SETI and Communicating with Alien Civilizations Friday, July 05, 2013 I came across the following odd newspaper article from 1885 that describes weird lights & sounds occurring in, what is currently, the High Mountain Park, NJ area (near Wayne, NJ): The Bucks County Gazette, Bristol, Pennsylvania - 30 April 1885 Uncanny Sounds Heard and Mysterious Lights Seen by the Valley Residents Superstitious residents of the regions known as Preakness, Haledon, and other suburbs hemmed in by the lofty hills known as High mountain, writes a Patterson, N.J., correspondent to the New York World, place extra bolts on their doors now o’ nights are are careful to be indoors “after hours.” Numbers of superstitious ones, and some who are not superstitious by any means, are willing to make affidavits that they have heard uncanny sounds proceeding from the heights, and nearly every body in the vicinity who has been near the foot of the mountain after dark will vouch for the statement that mysterious lights have been seen flitting to and fro up among the trees. No soul lives there, and, as it is said that several murders have been perpetrated there, the villages state, with a solemn shake of the head, that “the devil is at work and no mistake,” and that there are “spooks on High mountain.” A party of the braver and brawnier lads of the bailiwick endeavored to solve the mystery a few nights ago, but they soon returned with white faces and quaking limbs, and informed those in waiting by the stove of the place of rendezvous that it was all well enough for them to be sittin’ there toastin’ their shins and joken’, but if they wanted to find out anything about the spooks they had better make the trip themselves. Upon being mollified with “something hot,” they became more communicative, and related to their open-mouthed audience the following hair-curdling tale: They said they had climbed to the top of the mountain, where the lights had been seen, when all at once they were surrounded by lights that jumped around them and climbed the trees and performed other acrobatic feats. Although they appeared to be right in the midst of the flames not a hair on their head was injured and their clothing wasn’t even singed. They smelled phosphorous just as plain as it could be smelled, and while they were wondering what to do next the wind whistled through the trees, producing such unearthly sounds that they came right straight away and let the wind have it all to itself. Doubting Thomases in the audience plucked up courage and firearms enough to make the trip themselves and they, too, soon returned, looking as pale as the historical ghosts and shaking like rattle-boxes. Nobody showed a disposition to go home, and finally, when the host informed them that it was time to close up, they started off in a group and spent the night together by a hospitable neighbor’s fire rather than pass the mountain until daylight did appear. Since then the phenomena have been witnessed by scores of those who were brave enough to approach within sight of the bleak and densely wooded mountain, and the matter has been the chief topic of conversation in the country stores, in the taverns, in the village schools, and has even been refereed to by the local dominies. The town hodlums are now free of going to the stores after dark, for their parents would not think of sending them where they would not go themselves. The jolly hosts of the roadside taverns are jolly no longer, or must be content to be jolly by themselves, for the loungers now lounge at home. Old residents say that the same thing occurred just before the last cholera epidemic, and that the light presaged another visitation of that dread scourge. Scores of old timers are willing to wager on this, and prominent citizens are willing to encourage them in their belief, for it is on record that the same thing did occur in 1836, just before death stalked through this section of the country. Reports from Pike county, Pennsylvania, say that the same phenomena have appeared there just as they did in 1836, and that the citizen of that place spend most of their night-times in their homes. Citizens who pretend to be wise assert that the Pike county phenomena are caused by the escape of coal gas from the mountains, and that it is really no phenomenon at all, but is the result of natural causes. They also say that the mysterious lights on High mountin can be traced to the same cause, and are apparently honest in their belief that a vein of coal would be found by anybody taking the trouble to hunt for it.  Should this prove true there is wealth in store for the gentlemen who own High mountain, but they will have to seek foreign aid to unearth it , for no native will go within gunshot distance of it since the experiences above related. Weird N.J.: Your Travel Guide to New Jersey's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets Weird N.J. Vol. 2: Your Travel Guide to New Jersey's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets Weird NJ Presents FORSAKEN: Abandoned in and Around New Jersey Just the Facts?: Late 19th Century UFO? -- Late Pope John Paul II To Get Sainthood -- Man Hears People Before They Speak Late 19th Century UFO? |Click image for larger version| This photo was forwarded by a reader. Is there a UFO in the image? Humans could eventually grow beaks, scientist predicts Dr Gareth Fraser, of Sheffield University, said a beak would be “more robust and practical” than teeth and would not rot, chip or fall out. We will not be seeing beaked humans in our lifetime, however, as any evolutionary change in which the teeth fused together to form a tough, pointy bill, would not happen for several million more years. Dr Fraser said: “It could be possible for humans to evolve to grow beaks, like pufferfish, which may be more robust and practical.” The biologist has explored why humans grow only two sets of teeth in their lifetimes, while some other creatures grow many more. Sharks, for example, form a new set of teeth about once a fortnight. Dr Fraser has pinpointed the cells responsible for the growth of new teeth in other animals and believes scientists could eventually stimulate similar cells in the human mouth to create more sets of teeth. He told the Daily Mail: “I guess people will be looking at whether you can make perfect teeth. But there will always be orthodontists employed because even when you have new teeth, there is going to be a need for positioning. “With our extended lives and modern diets, the limited supply of human teeth is really no longer fit for purpose. “Our research is focused on looking for ways in which we can replicate the way that fish create an endless supply of teeth and bring this capability to humans.” This is unlikely to happen for at least another 50 years however, he added. In 2009 scientists from the University of Tokyo successfully grew replacement teeth in mice from cells in a laboratory. - Telegraph Late Pope John Paul II to get sainthood, Vatican says The Roman Catholic Church will declare the late Pope John Paul II a saint, the Vatican announced Friday. Pope Francis signed the decree Friday morning, the Vatican said. John Paul was pope from 1978 until his death in 2005, and was in a way the first rock star pontiff, drawing vast crowds as he crisscrossed the globe. At his funeral, thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square and chanted "Santo subito" -- Sainthood now! The Polish-born pope was fast-tracked to beatification and became "the blessed" John Paul II barely six years after his death, the fastest beatification in centuries. No date has been announced for the canonization ceremony. Pope John Paul II, the third-longest serving pope in history, died in April 2005 at the age of 84. He had suffered from Parkinson's disease, arthritis and other ailments for several years before his death. During his tenure, he became the most widely traveled pope in history and canonized more saints than any other pope. His papacy included a lot of firsts. He was the first modern pope to visit a synagogue and the first pope to visit Cuba. There are essentially three steps to becoming a Catholic saint after death. First, the title "venerable" is formally given by the pope to someone judged to have exhibited "heroic virtues." Second, a miracle must be attributed to the deceased person's intervention, allowing beatification. Canonization -- or sainthood -- requires a second attributed miracle. In 2010, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI approved John Paul's first reported miracle: a French nun supposedly cured of Parkinson's disease. Sister Marie-Simon-Pierre, a nun whose order prayed to the pope after he died, said she was cured of the disease, an ailment that also afflicted John Paul. The second miracle reportedly occurred in Costa Rica, where a woman said she recovered from a severe brain injury thanks to the intervention of John Paul, sources told CNN Vatican analyst John Allen. Patrick Kelly, executive director of the Blessed John Paul II Shrine in Washington, explained the church's process for investigating reported miracles. "A team of doctors first examine the miracle. Secondly, the team of theologians look at the miracles, and then they discuss amongst themselves the legitimacy and all the facts surrounding the miracles," he said. Despite being so beloved, John Paul didn't live up to expectations at a crucial moment in the church's history, as revelations of sexual abuse scandals involving thousands Catholic priests erupted across the world in the early 2000s, critics say. In the United States alone, the scandal involved more than 16,400 victims or alleged victims and cost the church $2.6 billion in settlements, therapy bills, lawyers' fees and care for priests removed from ministry, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. John XXIII was famed for calling the Second Vatican Council in 1962, which ushered in great changes in the Roman Catholic Church's relationship with the modern world. He was pope from 1958 to 1963, and was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2000. - CNN Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II John Paul II and the Meaning of Suffering: Lessons from a Spiritual Master First man to hear people before they speak Ever been watching an old movie, only for the sound and action to go out of sync? Now imagine every voice is like this – even your own. That's the world PH lives in. PH is the first confirmed case of someone who hears people speak before registering that their lips have moved. His situation is giving unique insights into how our brains unify what we hear and see. Light and sound travel at different speeds, so when someone speaks, visual and auditory inputs arrive at our eyes and ears at different times. The signals are then processed at different rates in the brain. Despite this, we perceive the events as happening simultaneously. How this happens, however, is unclear. An opportunity to study this process came about when 67-year-old PH started experiencing bad dubbing following surgery. "I said to my daughter 'hey, you've got two TVs that need sorting!'," he recalls. PH then realised that he was hearing his own voice before feeling his jaw move. A scan of his brain showed he had two lesions in areas that may play a role in hearing, timing and movement. To investigate, Elliot Freeman at City University London and colleagues performed a temporal order judgement test. PH was shown clips of people talking and was asked whether the voice came before or after the lip movements. Sure enough, he said it came before, and to perceive them as synchronous the team had to play the voice about 200 milliseconds later than the lip movements. The team then carried out a second, more objective test based on the McGurk illusion. This involves listening to one syllable while watching someone mouth another; the combination makes you perceive a third syllable. Since PH hears people speaking before he sees their lips move, the team expected the illusion to work when they delayed the voice. So they were surprised to get the opposite result: presenting the voice 200 ms earlier than the lip movements triggered the illusion, suggesting that his brain was processing the sight before the sound in this particular task. And it wasn't only PH who gave these results. When 34 others were tested on both tasks, many showed a similar pattern, though none of the mismatches were noticeable in everyday life (Cortex, doi.org/m3k). Freeman says this implies that the same event in the outside world is perceived by different parts of your brain as happening at different times. This suggests that, rather than one unified "now", there are many clocks in the brain – two of which showed up in the tasks – and that all the clocks measure their individual "nows" relative to their average. In PH's case, one or more of these clocks has been significantly slowed – shifting his average – possibly as a result of the lesions. Freeman thinks PH's timing discrepancies may be too large and happened too suddenly for him to ignore, resulting in him being aware of the asynchrony in everyday life. He may perceive just one of his clocks because it is the only one he has conscious access to, says Freeman. Tim Griffiths at Newcastle University, UK, says any interpretation is hard, but that Freeman's multi-clock theory is possible. As for PH, help may be at hand: Freeman is looking for a way to slow down his hearing so it matches what he is seeing. - New Scientist More so than the horror of Stalin's soviet state or Mao’s monstrous regime, Adolf Hitler’s dictatorship stands as a paradigm of the 20th century. It reflects unforeseen levels of state repression and violence, unparalleled manipulation of the media to control and mobilize the masses, acute dangers of over-expressed nationalism, the destructive power of ideologies of racial superiority and racism, and a perverted use of modern technology and social engineering. In the past, I have written about the decadence and evil of Hitler and his Nazi co-horts - Gifts From The Master Race...but there are a few more lesser known facts surrounding Adolf Hitler and his influence on the people around him and the modern world: - Hitler’s longest relationship was with Eva Braun (1912-1945). She tried to commit suicide twice in an attempt to garner more of Hitler’s attention. - In his last will and testament that he dictated to his secretary Traudl Junge (1920-2002), Hitler stated that “in spite of all set backs” the war “will one day go down in history as the most glorious and heroic manifestation of a people’s will to live.” - In 2009, DNA tests reveled that the skull fragment long thought to have been Hitler’s is that of an unknown woman under 40. Scientists don’t believe the skull belongs to Evan Braun because she committed suicide by cyanide rather than with a gun. - Hitler’s unusual medical remedies included enemas and leeches. - The name “Adolph” means “noble wolf.” Hitler used the pseudonym Herr Wolf early in his career when he wanted to avoided recognition. He named his headquarters “Wolf’s Lair” and “Wolf’s Headquarters” and named his favorite German shepherd puppy “Wolf.” - Hitler’s father’s name was originally Alois Schicklgruber but changed it to Alois Hitler in 1876, 13 years before Adolf was born. He later said that nothing his father had done had pleased him so much as when he changed his name. It is unclear why he changed his name. - The name Hitler means “small holder” and appears interchangeably with the names Hiedler, Hietler, Huttler, and Hutler. - Hitler was a decorated WWI veteran. He received the Iron Cross, Second Class in 1914. He received the Iron Cross, First Class in 1918. He also received the Black Wound Badge on May 18, 1918. - The phrase “Sieg Heil” was devised by Harvard-educated businessman Ernst Hanfstaengl. Hanfstaengl was impressed by the camaraderie and excitement at Harvard football games and sought to simulate the excitable atmosphere at Hitler’s rallies. - In 1937, Hitler created a new medal for foreign friends of the Reich called The Cross of the German Eagle Order. The first recipient was American Henry Ford. Hitler admired Ford largely because Ford hated Jews and had bought the newspaper Dearborn Independent to publish anti-Semitic stories. Ford even built Hitler an automobile assembly plant in Berlin. - In 1937, Carl Jung analyzed Hitler’s handwriting and wrote that it included “typical characteristics of a man with essentially feminine instinct.” - Hitler’s personal dentist Johannes Blaschke (1881-1959) reported that Hitler had terribly bad breath, abscesses, and gum disease. Hitler dreaded going to the dentist to the point of it being a phobia. - Biographer August Kubizek reports that a teenage Hitler was obsessed with a young Jewish girl Stefanie Isak. He allegedly stalked her and fantasied about kidnapping and committing suicide with her. - Historians note that Hitler was terrified of getting cancer and had polyps removed from his vocal chords twice. He also had high blood pressure and chronic gastrointestinal cramps and took massive amounts of a drug to flight flatulence. Additionally, Hitler suffered from hepatitis, which was triggered by blockage around his gall bladder. - Historians have noted that Hitler’s private physician gave into Hitler’s every demand, which led to Hitler being addicted to pills. For example, Dr. Morell supplied him with the stimulant Pervitin, which is an ingredient in the drug crystal meth. Hitler also supplied his soldiers on the front with the drug. Incidentally, today Pervitin is also called “Hitler speed.” - Some historians believe Hitler had a son with a French teenager while serving as a soldier during WWI. Hitler is said to have had an affair with a woman named Charlotte Lobjoie, age 16, in June 1917. Their son Jean-Marie Loret died in 1985 at the age of 67. He never met his father, but he did fight the Nazis during WWII. - Hitler’s regime is often called the Third Reich, or Third Empire. Hitler’s Propaganda Minster Goebbels heavily promoted this terminology. The first Reich was the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages; the second was the one established by Bismarck. - A recently opened clothing store in the Indian metropolis of Ahmedabad is named “Hitler.” A swastika dots the letter “i” in Hitler. - In 2010, parents who named two of their four children Adolf Hitler and Aryan Nation lost custody of all four kids. The New Jersey appeals court ruled that putting children into state care had nothing to do with their names, but that there was sufficient evidence of abuse or neglect and prior domestic violence to seize the children. - Hitler once ordered a team of phrenologists to take measurements of his skull. They concluded that his skull was “just like Napoleon’s” and they had seen “nothing like it since Frederick the Great.” Ironically, when he was on trial earlier in life for attempting to seize the government, a professor of something called “racial hygiene” reported that Hitler’s features demonstrated “bad race, mongrel, low receding forehead, ugly nose, broad cheekbones, small eyes, and dark hair.” - facts.randomhistory.com Roswell and the Reich: The Nazi Connection Dark Side of the Moon: Wernher von Braun, the Third Reich, and the Space Race The Secret Space Program: Who Is Responsible? Tesla? The Nazi? NASA? Or A Breakaway Civilization? Thursday, July 04, 2013 Just the Facts?: My Alien Hybrid Son -- It's Time To Disclose My Experiences -- UFO's, Werewolves & The Pig-Man Hey folks...I'm going to post just a few odds and ends today because of the July 4th holiday. We've had a lot going on lately at SRI...a few new intense cases that are going to require a lot of time and energy. Have a safe holiday and weekend...Lon My Alien Hybrid Son Fowlerville, MI - 1/28/2013 - unedited: My hybrid son was taken mid April of 2012. "They used the word claimed. I carried him for about 2 months. I knew he was a boy and I named him Drax. Named after Max(his human father) and the Draonian Reptilians I am involved with. During my pregnancy my ex was shut down and I was taken for several hours. When I was coming to I saw a figure standing to the side of the bed making circles above my stomach. I knew I had just been returned and I knew they were making one last check on the baby. He was brought to me October-10-2012 for breastfeeding and bonding. I am sending pictures of my pregnant stomach and claw marks where he held on to my left breast as he fed from the right. He didnt mean to hurt me. There was absolutely no feeling to the red and infected looking claw marks and they were basically gone in 4 hours. However, my right nipple felt like it had been pla ced in a vice. The only other time I experienced that pain was when I breast fed my daughter. The tracks that were left in the snow (see videos) were left 1-28-13. I didnt know what they were until a couple weeks later. I was standing in my kitchen and I heard these words.......Drax Tracks. I stood in that kitchen laughing and crying. I know it was my son who told me. I felt it....I knew it. There is so much more to this than I could possibly try to write. "They" have been manipulating my pineal gland. They are able to use me as a computer, loading and downloading information. I feel as if I am "ahead of time." I have received many messages from them and continue to. I have many very credible witnesses. They include an attorney, a fireman/farmer, and a prison guard. I have been regressed 5 times and some are recorded. The psychologist who regressed me would be willing to speak. I need help. I have reached out to many people. The only time I feel ok is when I am sharing what is happening to me. Some of the things that are happening are difficult to share because they make others very uncomfortable. So I am left holding all this inside. I have been doing illustrations and writing down everything and keeping track of dates the best I can. This all started in 1961 when i was 12. It was a sighting (daylight) with several witnesses including two police officers. I am still in contact with the Chief of police from back then. Unfortunately, he is 93 and in bad health along with good and bad memory days. He was at the station and said he fielded calls for over 20 minutes. One of the calls was from a fellow officer at the scene and another was a city councilwoman. I was discouraged from talking about this in hopes that I would forget. It was the worst thing my parents could have done. I never talked about it.....for 50 years I never talked about it. It was only when I met a Ufologist and college professor September 1st, 2011 that I opened up. I told him of the sighting.......thats all I thought it was for 50 years. But, I lived with PTSD and panic attacks. I havent had a papst smear in 20 years and still am unable to watch someone get a shot of tv. I have always had physic abilities. He was a smart man and knew there was more to it than that so he found the regression therapist. At the end of my first regression I felt myself immobilized and going up into the ship. One of the very first messages they gave me in 2011 was, "All memories are packed and taken with us in each new life." "When the load becomes to heavy or we no longer have the energy to carry it we travel as, LIGHT KNOWLEDGE ENERGY." "THEY TOLD ME TO TAKE THIS BATON AND RUN WITH IT"........that is what I am trying to do. MUFON CMS Children Of The Greys The Starchild Skull -- Genetic Enigma or Human-Alien Hybrid? Alien Agenda: Investigating the Extraterrestrial Presence Among Us It's Time To Disclose My Experiences Indiana - 2/1/1999 - unedited: INTRUDER ALERT - 1309YY XYZ BUG Serious events often happen in this world that cause me to worry. When things of a national or global nature occur, many people’s lives are affected. There isn’t a lot I can do, but I don’t feel totally helpless. As a citizen, I believe it’s my civic duty to write letters to public officials. I write to express my views when I think there’s a chance I can help people in positions of power understand reality a little better. When I write, I often use symbolism and analogies. Since everything in the universe is relative, it’s sometimes easier to step back and look at the situation from a different, relative angle. Once I grasp the basic principle, I’m in a better position to apply my knowledge to the situation. Some can get the wrong idea about what I’m trying to do when I write letters. In September, 1998, I felt the need to write a letter to the President of the United States. Our president was in the process of being impeached from office and impeachments don’t happen every day. I thought he might be able to use a little moral support from a fellow citizen. I thought I was writing him a private letter, but I learned there is no such thing as a nine-page, private letter written to the president. The number-10 envelope was about an inch thick. I’m certain the envelope raised eyebrows when it reached the White House - and possibly, before it got there. I had serious doubts as to whether I should mail it. I wanted to be certain I was doing the right thing by expressing my thoughts. The letter sat on my desk for a few days before I finally decided to mail it. On the way to the post office, a man in an old car with an American flag on the front bumper pulled up behind me. I heard one of those little voices inside my head. I thought the voice was telepathic and coming from the man in the car. The voice said, “That’s a good letter, Avery.” I wondered, How does he know it’s a good letter? There’s no way he could have read it. After I mailed the letter, I didn’t think much about it until the following day. I was on my way home from my real estate office. A guy in a truck pulled up beside me at one of many stoplights. He was in the next lane to my left. I glanced over and saw him covertly pointing a thumb into his chest. I thought it was strange. Then I looked into my rear-view mirror and saw a dark blue car with a small red and blue light in the front windshield. The man appeared to be telling me an unmarked police car was following me. I thought, Come on you crazy people, it was just a letter. I guess any time a suspicious letter is sent to the president, there are people who make certain no one means to do him harm. I can’t fault anyone for doing their job, but all the attention I was receiving caught me a little by surprise. One evening, a couple of days later, I got a little more attention than I’d bargained for. It was a Friday evening. A friend of mine was staying at my house because he had taken a new job. The change required him to move to another city. [Item removed/CMS/rjl] needed a place to stay on the weekends while he visited his friends and family. I wanted to go out to a nightclub and party. I asked [Item removed/CMS/rjl] if he wanted to join me, but he said he was too tired. He’d worked all week and wanted to stay home and relax. I said, “That’s fine.” Then I went to the club on my own. I don’t remember the exact time I returned home, but it was after midnight. I walked through the front door and closed it behind me. [Item removed/CMS/rjl] was stretched out and lying face up on the sofa. The lamps by the sofa were on; there was plenty of light in the room. I looked at my friend and stopped dead in my tracks. Something was terribly wrong with him. [Item removed/CMS/rjl] was looking at me with a silly grin. He appeared to be in shock and frozen in time. I gave him a curious frown and asked, “What?” He responded telepathically, “They’re here!” I thought, They’re here! What the hell does he mean by that? Something else caught my attention and I looked ahead. Twelve feet away, someone stepped out from the doorway of my kitchen. As I looked to see who it was, a red laser beam was all I could see. For the next few moments, I couldn’t help but focus on the pinpoint of red light, wondering what it was. Then I saw three bright flashes of white light, which nearly blinded me. A second later I felt as though some kind of energy weapon had ransacked my mind. There was no pain, but the energy of my body had been significantly drained. I instinctively yelled, “Oh!” as I turned away and went down on my right knee. I regained my composure, rose to my feet, and saw a “Gray” alien. The strange-looking creature was about four feet tall, and had big, dark, almond-shaped eyes. It limped slightly, but walked with determination in my direction. It looked like your typical extraterrestrial on television, but this one was real and in my house. When the alien was about two feet away, it looked up into my eyes. It asked in a telepathic voice, “Do you mean to do harm to the president?” I was angry about being assaulted by the alien’s energy weapon. It may have been the seven beers in me talking, but I didn’t care who this was. I wasn’t going to take this kind of s**t from anybody. I responded in a louder telepathic voice of my own, “No! Of course not!” The alien quickly moved backward a foot. I sensed it was surprised at my loud telepathic response. The being quickly regained composure, stepped forward and stared into my eyes again. It asked telepathically, “Then why did you write the letter?” I responded in a normal, audible voice, “Well, I just wanted to express my opinion.” The alien replied in an equally calm, yet telepathic voice, “Okay. That is what we thought. We were just checking." The being stepped back, made a quarter turn to its right, bowed its head, and reported to someone who wasn’t in my house, “It is a good letter.” It turned back to face me, looked up, and projected another thought, “Keep your nose clean.” I responded, “I will.” Then I thought for a moment and said, “Well, I’ll try.” The alien walked over to my friend on the sofa, stared at him for about ten seconds, and then ordered, “Roll over and go to sleep.” [Item removed/CMS/rjl] quickly complied. I watched intently as the alien walked to the lamp on the end table on the right side of my sofa. I laughed to myself when the alien reached up underneath the lampshade to find the switch. The bail that holds the lampshade was pressed hard against the power knob. It isn’t the kind of lamp that turns on and off with a switch. All you have to do is touch it. The alien was keeping a close eye on me as it bent over to turn the lamp off. I thought it was funny when the alien touched it, and it got brighter. I had a three-way bulb in the lamp. After a few seconds, the alien managed to turn it off with a touch from its slender left hand. It walked to the lamp at the left end of my sofa and quickly turned it off as well. The house became awfully dark, but not totally. There was light emanating from my computer monitor in the back bedroom. I’d turned the bedroom into a home office. My eyes hadn’t totally adjusted to the darkness, but I could see the alien walk over and stand in front of me. We stared at each other for a few moments. The darkness didn’t frighten me, but I was apprehensive about the intentions of the small, strange-looking being. It moved its head slightly to the right and looked at the side of my face. I mirrored its movement. It moved its head to the left to see the other side of my face. I mirrored its movement again. We continued to stare quietly at one another for about fifteen seconds. I then heard it stepping down what seemed like a volume switch in its mind, then the alien barely whispered telepathically, “You are good.” I gave the alien the biggest smile I could muster. I knew I was good. I also knew the extraterrestrial was testing me to see how telepathic I was. A smile was my friendly way of saying, “You’re going to have to do better than that if you don’t want me to hear your telepathic test.” I quickly, intentionally put a serious look on my face as I continued to stare back at the alien. I slowly tried to raise my right arm and hand, wanting to see if it would shake hands. When I tried, my left arm moved instead. I thought, This being has my body mechanics crossed up some how. My experience with this Gray seemed incredibly surreal to me. I continued to stare at the alien for a few more seconds. Then I laughed. It wasn’t a big laugh. It was more of a slight grin and a, Humph! The alien leaned its head back and started laughing too. The sound the alien made was, “Ack, Ack, Ack, Ack, Ack!” Its laugh sounded like the Popeye cartoon character. The alien turned and walked through the doorway leading into my unlit kitchen. After a few seconds, I could move my entire body normally and with ease. I cautiously walked to the kitchen and said, “I don’t appreciate this. Who invited you into my house?” I turned on the kitchen light and searched the room. The alien was gone. I asked, “[Item removed/CMS/rjl] , did you invite him in here?” Donnie was asleep and didn’t answer, but from a distance, I heard a telepathic voice reply, “No.” Then, as if someone had cut and pasted time, I found myself standing on the driveway outside my house. I felt as though something strange had just happened but I didn’t know what it was. In this new timeline, I had no immediate knowledge of the extraterrestrial contact that I had just had. I walked down the sidewalk, up the front steps of my house, I opened the front door and walked in. It was exceptionally dark. The only light in the house was that coming from the computer monitor in the back bedroom. I walked over and touched the lamp on the right end table. When the room became illuminated, I saw [Item removed/CMS/rjl] asleep on the sofa. I turned on the television with my remote control and put a movie into the VCR. It immediately ate the tape. My VCR had never done that before and I became angry. I began ranting, raving, and stomping through my house. I knew I was overreacting from a malfunctioning VCR, so I felt something else must be terribly wrong. I remember saying to myself, “This is a little too obvious!” [Item removed/CMS/rjl] awoke and asked what my problem was. I responded, “Somebody broke my VCR.” In his defense he said, “It wasn’t me, [Item removed/CMS/rjl] I haven’t used your VCR!” “I know it’s not your fault. There’s something else going on here and I don’t know what it is,” I replied. I sensed my friend’s thought, “Maybe he has had too much to drink.” Before he could say the words, I responded, “No. It’s not that.” It wasn’t until the next day that I was able to recall the event of the extraterrestrial contact, and piece my memories of the event together. I sat on my sofa and thought about the experience at great length. I knew it wasn’t a dream; it was too real and detailed. The flashes of light were like this being had taken a three-dimensional picture of me. I had the feeling the alien was trying to teleport a part of my being - but not my physical body - to another place and time. I thought I might have sent forth a scout-type soul a few minutes ahead of my physical body. Through clairvoyance, the report I received back was the alien visitation. During the encounter, once I stood back up, I felt immobilized. I could only move my head. I knew why the Gray being paralyzed me. The alien was acting in self-defense. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d had the ability to move my entire body freely and normally; I never had the chance. I’m not a violent person. I don’t believe I would have tried to harm the alien unless it had tried to hurt me. It temporarily paralyzed my body below the neck by manipulating the circuitry of my brain. For the creature from outer space, this may have been as easy as remotely flipping the correct circuit breakers on the electrical service panel of a house. I was a little intoxicated, but I wasn’t that drunk, not enough to have imagined something like this. When I entered my house, [Item removed/CMS/rjl] said telepathically, “They’re here.” This told me, although I only saw one, there may have been more than one alien. My friend’s experience may have been more traumatic than mine. Looking into the eyes of one of these extraterrestrials for the first time is like a deer looking into the headlights of an approaching car. It stuns you. Intuition and deductive reasoning told me these beings interrogated my friend. They may have mistook [Item removed/CMS/rjl] for me. Prior to my returning home that evening, they probably made Donnie tell them what he knew about me. This may have included the worst things Donnie had seen me do. It would have been a logical way for the aliens to determine if I posed a threat to anyone. The extraterrestrial was wearing gray clothes. I’ve never examined their fabric, but it looks soft and conforms closely to their bodies like spandex. I have no idea how strong their fabric is, but they’ve worn it in all our encounters. I don’t know how the alien knew I’d written the letter. Considering the advanced technology of these beings, it wouldn’t have been difficult for them to read the return address on the envelope from space or overheard conversations of influential people. The alien may have laughed because it found the needle in the haystack. I was a human who had created disruptions for this species in the past, and they had discovered me by investigating a small, unlikely lead. The alien may have been laughing from what it saw in my house. I have a wooden plaque my sister gave me as a Christmas gift. The plaque is hand-painted in blue and says “WELCOME FRIENDS.” I felt a need to hang it in the wrong place. Nobody can see this sign when entering my home because it’s on an inside wall next to my front door. When the alien stared at me in the darkness of my living room, it may have been looking past me and reading the words. If the alien had taken a picture, the “WELCOME FRIENDS” sign would have been in the background of the photograph. After piecing together this close encounter event, I stood from my sofa and walked to my home office. I looked at my computer monitor and saw something amazing. I saw the same thing written repeatedly. I read it and thought, What does this mean? I highlighted the first line and deleted it. The line mysteriously reproduced itself at the end of the bizarre repetitions. When the strange text reappeared, it inserted itself over the text of a story I was working on, effectively erasing what I’d written. I thought, Oh no! Not another computer virus! I scrolled down to the end of the repetitions, deleted the last line, then scrolled up to the top to see if anything had been erased above the weird insertion; it hadn’t. I erased it, line by line, from bottom to top, until it was gone. Oh! Thank God, I saved it! I thought. Since it had been a few weeks since I’d backed up my computer’s hard drive, I would have lost a lot of data if I hadn’t cleared the virus. I said out loud, “1309yy xyz in a box.” (I cant reproduce the xyz in a box here. It was above the line and located at the right.) A voice inside my head shouted, “That’s a bug!” I analyzed the strange insertion, wondering what it meant. Was the Grey or someone else sending me a coded message? I remembered the one red light, the three white flashes and going down on my knee and yelling “0h!” but what did the number 9 mean? I kept thinking number 9, number 9, number 9. It reminded me of a Beatles song. I thought “yy” might be a question from two different sources or two questions from one source. Was someone asking me a question? I wondered if the “xyz in a box” was someone’s way of saying, “Fill in the two dimensional space with an ending.” I questioned why the strange insertion could only be removed in reverse. No logical reasoning for the computer bug made much sense, but I thought it had something to do with my alien encounter. I’d referred to this type of alien as a bug in the past. This message in the bottle of my computer may have been its antagonistic way of saying, “We’ll show you a bug.” If this alien had wanted to talk, I wish it had knocked on my door and asked to be invited in. I don’t like it when they teleport in and out of my house the way this one did. It is better than them teleporting me into one of their spacecraft as had happened twice in my past. Once when I was 17 and again when I was 21. Being teleported onboard an extraterrestrial’s spacecraft can be a much scarier scenario. This wasn’t the first time I’d encountered aliens of this kind. It was the fifth time I could remember making contact with this species, but there would be other species, and more encounters to come. - MUFON CMS Nightmare Alley: Fearsome Accounts of Alien Abduction: New Evidence You Could Become Their Next Victim! Unholy Communion: The Alien Abduction Phenomenon Where It Originates And How It Stops Countdown to Oblivion: The Definitive Alien Abduction Massive Bee Deaths Continue As scientists struggle to find the cause of the massive die-offs, a phenomenon they call “colony collapse disorder,” Elmwood beekeeper Dave Schuit is pointing the finger at neonicotinoid pesticides. Schuit lost 600 hives. Research suggests that even at nonlethal does, the world’s most popular class of pesticides can confuse bees’ navigation and make it hard for them to find home. After a record-breaking loss of honeybees in the United Kingdom, the European Union has banned multiple pesticides, including neonicotinoid pesticides. Bees are critical to our food supply; one out of every three bites of food comes from a plant pollinated by honey bees and other pollinators. “More than 85 percent of Earth’s plant species — many of which compose some of the most nutritional parts of our diet — require pollinators to exist,” Eric Mader, assistant pollinator conservation director at The Xerces Society, told Whole Foods. “Yet we continue to see alarming declines in bee numbers.” "In the United States alone, native bees contribute at least $3 billion a year to the farm economy,” Mace Vaughan, pollinator program director at the Xerces Society, told the National Wildlife Federation. The evidence linking pesticide use on our crops to bee deaths is compelling. - MSN Coming July 22nd... Lee Brickley's Terrifying New Book UFO's Werewolves & The Pig-Man (Exposing England's Strangest Location – Cannock Chase) "UFOs, werewolves, orbs, more monsters than an old Universal Studio film. Cannock Chase has them all, and now Lee Brickley is bringing them all into your living room in his exciting new book." - Brad Steiger The eternally mysterious woodlands of Cannock Chase in Staffordshire, England are known throughout the world as an entry point for bizarre and unearthly, paranormal phenomena. From werewolf sightings and spectral encounters, to documented UFO crashes and spooky urban legends, this supernatural portal area experiences more inexplicable activity than you even dare imagine. In this book, Lee Brickley chronicles his investigation into the very location many researchers call “England's Strangest”. With brand new sighting reports, spine tingling tales of gruesome monsters, and fresh information on the alleged top secret military connection that could be responsible for it all. Are you brave enough to find out what's really going down in the woods today? Wednesday, July 03, 2013 Summary: On January 6, 1976, three women were abducted near Stanford, Kentucky. As they were driving together to have dinner, a bright red object appeared in the sky, which Mona Stafford at first thought was an airplane on fire. As the object descended from the right side of the road to a point ahead of them, they could see that it was not an airplane, but a huge object bigger than "two houses." Original Report: January 6, 1976 was Mona Stafford's 36th birthday. To celebrate, she and her friends Louise Smith and Elaine Thomas decided to drive thirty-five miles from their home in Liberty, Kentucky, to have dinner at the Redwoods Restaurant, between Stanford and Lancaster, Kentucky. Louise Smith was driving them in her '67 Chevy Nova. The three women had an enjoyable dinner together. None of them drank any alcoholic beverages with their meal. At about 11:15, the trio headed back home, expecting to be home by midnight. At Stanford, Kentucky, nine miles from Lancaster, they turned off Highway 27 and onto Highway 78 towards Hustonville. Just outside Stanford, a curious thing happened. A bright red object appeared in the sky, which Mona Stafford at first thought was an airplane on fire. As the object descended from the right side of the road to a point ahead of them, they could see that it was not an airplane, but a huge object bigger than "two houses." The object stopped about a hundred yards ahead of them, stretching across the road on both sides. It rocked back and forth for a couple of seconds, and then moved off to the left. They arrived at Louise Smith's trailer in Liberty at 1:25 am, almost an hour and a half late. They went inside to collect themselves and found that they each had a red mark like a burn on the backs of their necks, and they all had burning, irritated eyes. Louise Smith went into the bathroom and removed her watch to wash her face. She saw that the hands of her watch were spinning at a much higher than normal speed. When she splashed water on her face, she found that contact with water caused pain in her hands and face. They went next door, to the home of Mr. Lowell Lee, and told him what had happened. He had them separately sketch the object they had seen. The sketches were extremely similar, if not identical. They called the police and the local navy office, but neither showed any interest in their story. In the days that followed, Mona Stafford had more problems with her eyes than did the other two women, and she sought medical help for severe conjunctivitis. Louise Smith's pet parakeet was now inexplicably terrified of her and the bird died a couple of months later. Smith's car also began to develop mysterious electrical problems. The navy office reportedly gave information about the story to the news media, and the story was soon in the newspapers. Hearing of the case, Jerry Black of MUFON set up an interview with the three women. J. Allen Hynek of CUFOS and Jim and Coral Lorenzen of APRO also investigated the case. The investigators found that other individuals had independently reported sightings of a UFO in the Casey and Lincoln counties that same night. Dr. R. Leo Sprinkle of the University of Wyoming heard of the case and flew in, and on March 7, 1976, he performed a preliminary hypnotic regression of the women. In July of 1976, Lexington Police Department detective James Young separately gave the three women lie detector tests regarding their experience. They all passed with no problems. Later that evening and continuing into the next day, extensive hypnotic regression of the women was performed by R. Leo Sprinkle. These sessions were similar to the story of Betty and Barney Hill in that they revealed that during the period of missing time the three women were taken on board the object they had seen. While there they were medically examined by shadowy beings that they later identified as being similar to depictions of aliens. - ufoevidence.org |Drawing of the UFO by Mona Stafford| The Kentucky Abduction - APRO Bulletin, Vol. 25 No. 4 (Oct 1976) The February first issue of the Kentucky Advocate, published at Danville, Kentucky, carried an article pertaining to UFO sightings in that general area, among which was the story told by Ms. Louise Smith, Ms. Mona Stafford and Mrs. Elaine Thomas about their drive home to Liberty from a late dinner at the Redwoods restaurant located five miles north of Stanford. The ladies said that at a point about one mile south of Stanford, they saw a huge disc-shaped object which was metallic gray with a white glowing dome. A row of red lights rotated around the middle and underneath were three or four red and yellow lights that burned steadily. A bluish beam of light issued from the bottom. The newspaper did not carry a lot of detail but it was mentioned that when the women arrived home in Liberty, it was 1:25 a.m. Having left the restaurant at 11:15 p.m., they should have arrived home by midnight, indicating that there was a time loss of about one hour and 25 minutes. The Kentucky Advocate article was forwarded to APRO by Field Investigator Bill Terry but meanwhile he put in a telephone call and asked if we felt the case was good enough for him to make the necessary 60 mile trip to talk to the ladies. After he had read the pertinent information, Mrs. Lorenzen said she thought it would be well worth the trip. A few days later he called back and told Headquarters he thought it was a case of abduction, and that the usual hypnosis procedures should be utilized. A call was put in to Dr. R. Leo Sprinkle, APRO's consultant in psychology and he was asked to travel to Liberty to interview the women and possibly use hypnotic procedures to relieve their anxiety and obtain any repressed information. Headquarters learned that his first free weekend for the trip would be the weekend of the 6th and 7th of March. We will here relate the information obtained by our investigation and later explain why this report has not been published until now. It is important to note that although Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Thomas had known each other for many years, and Mrs. Stafford had known Mrs. Thomas for some time, Mrs. Smith had only gotten acquainted with Mona a few weeks previously. On the evening in question, Mrs. Smith left work at the usual time and went home. She is employed as an extension assistant for the Casey County Extension Office where her duties consist of visiting families in the county, counseling them in food perparation and preservation, nutrition and gardening. She fixed herself a sandwich and soup, which she ate, then got into her 1967 Chevrolet which she had just purchased that day and drove to a service station to get gas in preparation for the next day. While at the service station, Mona Stafford, who was driving by, spotted Louise's car, pulled her car into the station, whereupon Mrs. Smith asked her if she would come home with her and help her put the collar on a jacket she was making, as she was having trouble fitting it. The two ladies, each in her own car, drove to the Smith trailer home and set about the task. At about 8 p.m., Mrs. Thomas dropped by and the three lapsed into conversation about their favorite subject: art. Mrs. Stafford had planned to go to her sister's home to have her hair done and at about 9 p.m. said she'd better call her sister because it was getting late and besides, it was her (Mona's) birthday. When Mrs. Smith learned about the birthday, she suggested that they al! go over to the Redwoods for a late dinner and a sort of birthday celebration. Also, there was a painting on the wall of the restaurant which she had wanted to sketch. The restaurant, incidentally, is the only restaurant open at that time of night in that area. The three drove the 29 miles to the restaurant, had their dinner and then pulled out sketch pads and went to work. A man at the restaurant asked Mrs. Smith to sketch him, which she did, and then she realized it was getting late, so the three paid their checks and left. Mrs. Smith drove, Mona sat in the middle of the front seat, with Mrs. Thomas on her right by the passenger window. After Mona spotted the object, which was descending from their right to the left, she asked Louise to speed up as she thought it was a plane about to crash and she wanted to help any survivors. Mrs. Smith saw it clearly, but Mrs. Thomas didn't see it until it had stopped at treetop level at what they estimated to be one hundred yards ahead of them. All of the women said the object was huge, Louise describing it as "as big as a football field," while Mrs. Stafford said it was at least as large as two houses. Mrs. Smith said that the object rocked gently for perhaps two seconds, at which time she estimated its size, for it extended beyond the edges of the road and over the fields on both sides. Then the thing moved across the road to their left, circling behind and above some houses, and then apparently came back to the highway and swung in behind the car. At a point in their journey about a quarter of a mile beyond the houses, the inside of the car was lit up with a bluish light which came from behind. Mrs. Smith said that at first she thought it was a state trooper approaching from behind, but realized almost immediately that it wasn't. At this point Louise and Mona were near panic. The car began to pull to the left and Louise screamed at Mona to help her control it. The speedometer was registering 85 miles per hour and both Mona and Mrs. Thomas shouted at Mrs. Smith to slow down. Louise held her foot in the air to show them and said,"I don't have my foot on the accelerator and I can't stop it!" Mona reached over and grabbed the wheel and they fought the force together. Then, quite suddenly, the women experienced a burning sensation in their eyes and Louise later described an additional pain which seemed to "go right through the top of my head! It was almost unbearable!" The next sensation was that of some force pulling the car backward. Also, they got the feeling that the car was going over a series of "speed bumps" (raised ridges in a road which are meant to keep the speed of automobiles to a minimum). Mrs. Thomas began urging Louise to stop so that she could get a good look at the object, but Mona and Louise were too terrified. Elaine had only had a glimpse of the object as it had circled to their left and around behind him and was later to comment about the object's beauty. "I can't describe it," she said, "I've never seen red that beautiful. 1 wanted to get out and look at it." Then, the women said, they saw a strange, wide, lighted road stretching as far as they could see ahead of them. At the same moment Mona noted a red light come on on the instrument panel which indicated that the engine had stalled, despite the sensation that they were moving very fast. At what seemed to be a split second later the women saw a street light ahead and realized that they were coming into HustonviHe, a full eight miles beyond where they had encountered the strange aircraft. They wondered among themselves how they had gotten there so fast, then became quiet while they proceeded on into Liberty. When they arrived at Mrs. Smith's trailer, they ail went inside. Mrs. Smith went into the bathroom, took off her glasses and splashed water on her face, whereupon her hands and face began to burn with searing pain. All three had a red mark on the backs of their necks, measuring about three inches long and one inch wide, with clearly defined edges, giving the appearance of a new burn before it blisters. Louise and Elaine's marks were centrally located between the bases of their skulls and the top of the back, whereas Mona's was located to the ieft, behind her ear. They could not account for the marks, which disappeared two days later. All three were experiencing burning and tearing of their eyes, but Mona Stafford had a much more severe case of conjunctiveitis (an inflammation of the conjunctiva membrane of the eyes). Prior to washing her hands, Louise had taken off her watch and was startled to see that the hands of her watch were moving at an accelerated rate of speed, the minute hand moving at the speed of a second hand, and the hour hand was moving also. Upon experiencing the pain of the water on her hands and face she forgot about the phenomena of the watch and does not recall when it returned to normal or when she reset it. Concluding that something was wrong, the three ladies went next door to the home of Mr. Lowell Lee, and told him what they had seen. He asked them to go into separate rooms and sketch the object and when finished, he found the resulting sketches to be almost identical. Although all the women had trouble with their eyes, only Mona Stafford sought medical help, as her problem was so severe. The doctor who examined her found no explanation for the pain and tearing but gave her some eye drops which helped very little. Bill Terry found out that all three of the women enjoy good reputations. Mrs. Smith, 44, is a tall, thin woman of 44 years who was widowed when a young woman and brought up her son and daughter by herself. She has two grandchildren and busies herself in her spare time with painting and sketching and gospel singing. She performs around Casey county with the Jubilee Echoes, consisting of herself, a 14-year-old boy singer and a bassist who is a police lieutenant in Danville. She is a lifelong member of the Baptist church and attends services regularly at the Poplar Springs Baptist Church in Liberty. Inquiries to such people as police personnel, her minister and employer, elicited only good comments. Several weeks after her experience she had lost 28Vi of her normal weight of 125Vi pounds. Mona Stafford is 35, the former owner of an arts and crafts shop in Liberty and currently unumployed except for secretarial work which she does for her father, who owns a mobile trailer park. She was once married but has been divorced since 1970 and lives in a trailer home parked near her parents' home. She is a devout Christian, a member of the Hilltop Church of Christ near Liberty. She also lost weight amounting to 17 pounds but at this writing had regained 7. Elaine Thomas is a 48 year-old-housewife who has lived in Casey County, Kentucky all of her life. She and her husband Otis live several miles out of Liberty. They have a grown daughter and three grandchildren. Mrs. Thomas is also a lifelong churchgoer and is a member of the Contown Church of Christ. The foregoing information indicated to APRO's staff that the women were of good reputation, sincere, honest, and had no motivation to concoct a story so we proceeded with the investigation. It is at this juncture that we will explain the tardiness of the publication of this case. Bill Terry met Dr. Sprinkle upon his arrival and the two proceeded to Mrs. Smith's home. They were met with a conglommeration of investigators from CUFOS and MUFON, who felt that they were "first" on the case and that APRO should not be allowed to enter. (They had preceded Mr. Terry to the Liberty site by only one day). Sprinkle, being a gentleman and a scholar did not want to intrude, and it was finally decided to call APRO Headquarters for an opinion. Mr. Lorenzen talked to Len Stringfield of CUFOS and MUFON who wanted to use the services of Dr. Sprinkle but did not want the report to be sent to APRO. Mrs. Lorenzen pointed out that she had written a book (Encounters with UFO Occupants) specifically so that the proceeds would furnish APRO with the wherewithal to conduct such investigations, and that not only was APRO's money (air fare and expenses for Dr. Sprinkle) wasted, but Dr. Sprinkle's time away from his family was wasted as well. It was finally decided that Dr. Sprinkle would conduct the hypnotic sessions but that there would have to be a mutual agreement concerning the release of the story. Also, during meetings before Sprinkle's arrival, some representative of MUFON or CUFOS had told Mrs. Smith (she doesn't recall who) that the ladies should be careful about having anything to do with APRO because "they would call in the National Enquirer" and they would receive much unwanted publicity. Later, in a letter from Jerry Black, a MUFON investigator and, consequently, a CUFOS investigator, suggested that the ladies contact the National Enquirer about their experience, which was a surprise considering their reluctance to have anything to do with that paper if APRO was on the case. THE A.P.R.O. BULLETIN At any rate, it was for this reason, after the waste of several huhdred dollars, APRO was unable to complete the case. Then, after the National Enquirer contacted the ladies, Dr. Sprinkle, because of his participation in the "Blue Ribbon Panel" of National Enquirer experts, was called upon to go back to Liberty and regress the women. His report of the weekend of March 6 and 7 is quite sketchy except for his characterization of the three women as reliable, sincere, etc., because Saturday was largely wasted in quibbling about who should have "control of the case." Incidentally, the MUFON people wanted to make use of Sprinkle's expertise, "as long as he was there." But they admitted they neither had the consultants nor the funds to send in someone expert in hypnotic techniques to carry out the trance sessions. On the 23rd of July, under the National Enquirer's aegis, a polygraph test was conducted on the three ladies, and James C. Young reported, in each case, that it was his opinion, based upon the polygraph examinations, thai: the ladies believed they were telling the truth to the listed questions. In his report, Mr. Young made the following pertinent observation: "Prior to the examination of these three persons it was determined by the polygraphist that these persons had been previously interviewed by Dr. R. Leo Sprinkle and the above-mentioned members of the Mutual UFO Network. How much or how little these previous interviews played a part upon what these persons now believe about this alleged encounter cannot be determined by the polygraphist. I cannot discount the fact that previous interviews with these persons could influence their personal beliefs as to whether or not this alleged encounter did or did not occur." |The three women who were abducted near Stanford, Kentucky. Left to right: Louise Smith, Elaine Thomas, Mona Stafford. (credit: Jerome Clark)| Mr. Young makes a very good point, that being that interviewers showing sketches of UFO types to a witness before they make their own renderings of what they saw, is highly suggestive, as is the display of any drawings of occupants. This apparently was done by MUFON representatives prior to the polygraph test or the trance hypnosis carried out by Dr. Sprinkle on the next day, the 24th of July. APRO has a complete transcript of the trance sessions which have been examined by the staff. While Robert Pratt of the Enquirer, and Dr. Sprinkle, who has had extensive experience in this phase of UFO research, were careful not to lead the subjects, some very suggestive or leading questions were asked by Mr. Stringfield and Mr. Black of MUFON. It is just such errors that the skeptics will leap upon in attempts to discredit the investigative procedures or reliability of witness testimony in such cases. We would like very much to quote in polygraph tests and the hypnotic trance sessions, but space will not allow us to do so. Therefore, we summarize Dr. Sprinkle's findings from the hypnotic sessions. ". . .Mrs. Smith suffered much as she relived the experience. The behaviors, e.g., weeping, moaning, tossing her head, shuddering, and shaking, etc., were evident to those of us who observed her. especially as she seemed to "relive" an experience of a fluid material covering her face. Her smile, and evident relief in "seeing the street light" at the end of her hour and one-half loss-of-time experience was dramatic and indicated that she was "safe" in the car, once again, and returning home with her friends." Sprinkle then goes on to recount Louise's claim that her pet parakeet, who, according to her claims and the claims of others who observed the bird, refused to have anything to do with her after the UFO experience. Others could approach the bird and it would not react wildly; however, whenever Louise came close to the bird, the bird would flutter and move away from her. The bird died within weeks after the UFO experience. Mona Stafford. . ."responded well to the hypnotic suggestions and she was able to describe impressions which led her to believe that she had been taken out of the car, and that she was alone on a white table or bed. she saw a large "eye" which seemed to be observing her. She felt as if a bright white light was shining on her and that there was "power" or energy which transfixed her and held her to the table or bed. She experienced a variety of physiological reactions, including the impressions that her right arm was pinned or fastened; her left leg forced back under her, with pain to the ankle and foot; pressure on the fingers of the left hand, as if they were forced or squeezed in some way; a feeling of being examined by four or five short humanoids who sat around in "surgical masks" and "surgical garments" while observing her. At one point, she sensed that she was either experiencing out-of-the body travel, or else she was waiting outside of a large room in which she could view another person, probably a woman, lying on a white bed or observation table. She perceived a long tunnel, or a view of the sky, as if she had been transported to an area inside a large mountain or volcano. Although, she wept and moaned and experienced a great deal of fatigue as a result of the "reliving" of the experience, she felt better the next day; she expressed the belief to me that she now had a better understanding of what happened during the loss-of-time experience. . . . "Mrs. Thomas had been rather quiet during the initial interview in March, 1976, although it was obvious that she is perceptive and aware of other people's attitudes and feelings. Like the others, she has lost weight, but she has also experienced some personality changes. She dresses a bit more colorfully now, and she is more willing to talk and to share her ideas with others. She, too, experienced a similar reaction during the hypnotic techniques: she apparently was responding well to suggestions to go deeper; when she "relived" the UFO experience, she experienced a great deal of emotional reaction. Her main impression was that she was taken away from her two friends, and that she was placed in a "chamber" with a window on the side. She seemed to recall figures which moved back and forth in front of the window of the chamber as if she were being observed. Her impression was that the observers were four-foot-tall humanoids, with dark eyes, and grey skin. One disturbing aspect of the experience was the memory that she had some kind of contraption or "covering" that was placed around her neck; whenever she tried to speak, or think, the contraption or "covering" was tightened, and she experienced a choking sensation during these moments. At first, Mrs. Thomas interpreted the memories as indication that she was being choked by hands or that she was being prevented from calling out to her friends; later, however, she came to the tentative conclusion that an experiment was being conducted, and the experiment was to learn more about her intellectual and emotional processes. She recalled a "bullet-shaped" object, about an inch and one haif in diameter, being placed on her left chest; she previously had experienced pain and a red spot at that location. ". . .During the polygraph examination, and during the initial hypnotic sessions, each UFO witness was interviewed separately from the other witnesses. After the initial description of impressions, the women were invited to attend the additional hypnosis sessions, so thai each woman could observe the reaction of the other two women. During these sessions, there was much emotional reaction, which seemed to arise from two conditions: the compassion of the witnesses for their friend, who was "reliving" the experience and releasing emotional reactions to the experience; also, it seems as if the description by one witness would "trigger" a memory on the part of another witness, even if the experiences seemed to be "similar" or "different." "Certain similarities were observed: a feeling of anxiety on the part of each witness regarding a specific aspect of the experience. For Ms. Smith, it was the "wall" and the "gate" beyond which she was afraid to "move psychologically"; for Ms. Stafford it was the "eye" which she observed and the impression that something evil or bad would be learned if she allowed the eye to "control" her; for Ms. Thomas, it was the "blackness" which seemed to be the feared condition or cause for anxiety. Each woman seemed to experience the impression that she had been taken out of the car and placed elsewhere without her friends and without verbal communication. For Ms. Smith, the lack of verbal communication was most distressing; although she had the feeling of "mental communication" that she would be returned after the "experiment." "Differences were noted in that each woman seemed to have a somewhat different kind of "examination," and in a different "location." Ms. Smith did not have a clear impression of the location, although she did recall a feeling of lying down and being examined; Ms. Stafford had the impression of being in a "volcano or mountainside," with a room in which a bright Sight was shining on a white table with white clothed persons or humanoids sitting around and observing her; Mrs. Thomas recalled impressions of being in the dark chamber with grey light permitting a view of the humanoids who were apparently observing her." In his conclusive paragraphs Dr. Sprinkle reports: "In my opinion, each woman is describing a "real" experience, and they are using their intelligence and perceptivity as accurately as possible in order to describe the impressions which they obtained during the hypnotic regressions session. Although there is uncertainty about their impressions, especially in regard to how each person could be transported out of the car and relocated in the car, the im pressions during the "loss of time" experience are similar to those of other UFO witnesses who apparently have experienced an abduction and examination during their UFO sighting. "Although it is not possible to claim absolutely that a physical examination and abduction has taken place, I believe that the tentative hypothesis of abduction and examination is the best hypothesis to explain the apparent loss-of-time experience, the apparent physical and emotional reactions of the witnesses to the UFO sighting: the anxiety and the reactions of the witnesses to their experiences which have occurred after their UFO sighting. An interesting subsequent event is the concern of the women that they were "re-experiencing" the physical symptoms which had been experienced for several days following the January 1976 sightings. . . .When I called them on July 26th, the women said that they were re-experiencing some of the same kinds of symptoms, e.g., fatigue, listlessness, sensitivity to skin, burning feeling on the face and eyes, fluid discharge, etc. "I tried to reassure the ladies that it is not an uncommon experience in hypnotic regression that persons — after "reliving" earlier emotional experiences — may re-experience some of the symptoms which accompany those emotional reactions. "In my opinion, the UFO experiences of these women are a good example of the type of apparent abduction and examination which seems to be occurring to more UFO witnesses. I believe that the investigation could be continued with the hopes of obtaining further information about their experiences. However, the present evidence suggests to me that the women have cooperated sincerely and openly in describing their reactions to their UFO sighting and loss-of-time experience, and the polygraph examination and hypnotic regression sessions have been useful in uncovering their impressions of the UFO sighting and subsequent events. "I believe the case is a good example of UFO experiences, because of the number and character of the witnesses. . . and because of the results of further investigation through polygraph examinations and hypnotic regression sessions." Dr. Sprinkle alludes to "subsequent events." Conversations with Mrs. Smith since the regressive hypnotic sessions took place yielded two very interesting bits of information: Mrs. Stafford had been having trouble sleeping, would not stay home, and would go to her parents' home or that of a friend, and curl up on the floor to sleep. She also has said repeatedly that she would not live "to see another birthday." Hopefully this is only a fear and not a portent of things to come. Also, in the fall of 1976, Mrs. Smith was overcome by an inexplicable urge to go back to the scene of the original sighting. On August 1 she did return to ihfi.site-, got out of her tar, and "heard" the words: "feel of your hands."When she did so, she realized that three rings, which she habitually wore, a small gold ring, a pearl ring, and a gold ring with onyx and a small diamond, were gone. On the 26th of September, Mrs. Smith walked out onto the stoop of her trailer home and found the onyx and diamond ring lying there. For some inexplicable reason, she scooped up the ring, walked to the creek which runs by her home, and threw it into the water. This, then, is the entire story of the Kentucky abduction. At last contact with Mrs. Lorenzen by telephone, Mrs. Smith intimated that she was beginning to have recall of the whole experience, and asked that Mrs. Lorenzen not divulge the details as she was writing a book about the experience. We appreciate Mrs. Smith's desires, and will not comment on further information learned from her until such time as the book is published. However, we laud these ladies for their bravery; theirs is a very interesting and hair-raising experience and we feel sympathy for them in that their greatest ordeal may well still lie ahead: the attacks of the skeptics. - APRO Bulletin, Vol. 25 No. 4 - October 1976 Haunted Kentucky: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Bluegrass State (Haunted Series) Nightmare Alley: Fearsome Accounts of Alien Abduction: New Evidence You Could Become Their Next Victim! "The Kentucky Abduction." International UFO Reporter - March 1977 APRO Bulletin, Vol. 25 No. 4 - October 1976 'Phantoms and Monsters' CLICK POSTER FOR TICKET INFORMATION

Posted by: Loren Coleman on March 29th, 2006 The "forgotten footage" of the Ely Sasquatch has returned. Perhaps this is only important for viewing for those that didn’t see it’s brief appearance before? Maybe this “news” is only significant for Bigfoot historians interested in documenting the exact ups and downs of this story? Whatever the reason, Cryptomundo wants to alert you to the news, and you do with it what you wish. It is intriguing to figure out what is going on here, because it is certainly unclear who is putting this video up again. Did someone take a capture-copy of the recently removed video and upload it, or did Richard Sade put it up again? Since this one is labeled "Sasquatch Hoax," this time around, it probably is not Sade. But this is clearly the extra footage that Richard Sade said he found before, still in his camera. The individual who has placed this one online says: "There is another video floating around that is claiming to be real. Here is the rest of the footage." Then the poster critiques the Bigfoot’s running in sexist terms I won’t repeat in this blog. Yes, I’ve discussed cryptid hairy primate sexuality in Bigfoot!, but sexism is something very human and not helpful in critiquing the run of this person in a suit or snow-clumsy Sasquatch. More about bias some other time when we aren’t merely discussing Sasquatch, in general, or at least on tape. You can view this newly returned "forgotten footage" of the "Ely Sasquatch" here. For other recent links to the videotape appearance and reappearances, see "Ely Video Is Back", and the four links within the posting here. The first posting has the most important details about where this was supposed to be taken, and that can be found at "Ely Sasquatch Video." Needless to say, the most enlightening statements about the Ely videotape are contained in the body of over 100 comments from the Cryptomundo readers. They are, simply put, insightful, illustrative, and entertaining. 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.

Travis and his team travel to China in search of what isn't supposed to exist ... their mission to capture a Cryptid which is wreaking havoc in a remote village and they need to do this ... See full summary » It's been 5 years since the outbreak that wiped out 85% of the world's population, but the war between Re-Animates (Re-Ans) and Humans wages on. Most of the major cities are still ... See full summary » Two former para-military operatives, Johnny and his police detective friend Peter, search Bangkok to find the killers of Johnny's beautiful daughter Angel - Leaving carnage and retribution throughout city. A westerner named Casey, studying Ninjutsu in Japan, is asked by the Sensei to return to New York to protect the legendary Yoroi Bitsu, an armored chest that contains the weapons of the last Koga Ninja. John looks to take down Luc Deveraux after a home invasion claims his wife and daughter. The fight pits John against Andrew Scott and an army of genetically enhanced warriors; meanwhile, he must contend with a UniSol in relentless pursuit. Jean-Claude Van Damme, Fight everyone and trust no one: it's the code of survival practiced by martial-arts master Casey Bowman after his life of domestic bliss is shattered by a savage act of violence. Vowing revenge, the fearless American stealthily tracks the killer from Osaka to Bangkok to Rangoon with the help of a wise and crafty sensei. His only clues: a series of victims whose necks bear the distinctive mark of strangulation by barbed wire. Fighting to avenge as well as to survive, Casey must sharpen his razor-like responses and take his battle skills to the next level, even using deep meditation to fake his own death. His target: the sinister drug lord Goro, who is flooding the streets with deadly meth cooked at his remote jungle factory. To prepare for his ultimate confrontation, Casey must finally become an invisible warrior worthy of the name Ninja. But just when his prey is cornered, an unexpected twist shows Casey that his battle is only beginning: he truly can trust no one. Written by During filming, Scott Adkins injured his back and required a stunt double to perform some of his kicks for him. This marks the first time that Adkins had been significantly doubled for a fight scene. See more » A vengeful ninja searches for his wife's murder pitting himself against trained martial artists, drug dealers, thugs, the Burmese police, and another ninja master(s). Scott Adkins is a very talented fighter and in this movie, he gets to highlight his real skills. Featuring dojo matches, and a wide array of ninja weapons, this flick is an example of a martial arts movie made right. This sequel is better than its predecessor, and features more action and better choreography. The final fight does not disappoint and is truly climactic. However I do agree that there is not enough ninja costumes (since this is a ninja movie), yet given that the movie is set in the present day, I think they did a good job in making the ninja story plausible. In fact, the story is not so original but its simple enough to hold the story together, and allow for a lot of action. I wish there were more action movies like this in Hollywood. 0 of 0 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

|Hold it right there, outlaw!| This article is littered with spoilers, so I reckon you might ought'a mosey on down the road if you don't want to read any plot details. |Scientific Name||None (cryptid)| |Loot|| Sasquatch Heart| |Voice actor||Joel Garland| –The last Sasquatch to John Marston. Sasquatch have been described in reports as large, hairy, ape-like creatures, ranging from 6–10 feet (2–3 m) tall, weighing in excess of 500 pounds (230 kg), and covered in dark brown or dark reddish hair. Alleged witnesses have described large eyes, a pronounced brow ridge, and a large, low-set forehead; the top of the head has been described as rounded and crested, similar to the sagittal crest of the male gorilla. Sasquatch is commonly reported to have a strong, unpleasant smell by those who claim to have encountered it. In Undead Nightmare, they come in both reddish-brown and dark brown colored fur and have an appearance and characteristics similar to a gorilla. The darker colored ones are assumed to be male (as seen in The Birth of the Conservation Movement), while the reddish brown ones are assumed to be female. They are intelligent and are able to speak English fluently. According to Rockstar's game art and a crazy man in the wilderness, they prey on human infants and are "Extremely dangerous and should not be approached". However, they actually eat mushrooms and berries and have been living in the forests of Tall Trees for over one thousand years according to the "last" sasquatch. Despite their appearance, they are very similar to humans by reactions and feelings. They are always found in and around Tall Trees, regardless if the player kills the supposed "last" one. The in-game Sasquatch are timid and apt to run from the player if threatened in any way. They claim to have been living in Tall Trees for over a thousand years, but they cannot be found in the normal campaign. In the stranger mission "Birth of the Conservation Movement", the player is tasked by a man wearing clothing similar to the Expert Hunter Outfit to kill the Sasquatch around Tall Trees. When the last specimen is found, he'll tell a moving story about being the last of his kind and how he wishes to be killed. After the cut scene, the quest is complete. However, the player can choose to leave him be or to end his life. If you choose to kill him, sometimes headshots don't kill instantly. So far, this has only happened with the one that tells the story and wants the player to shoot him. This decision will not affect the storyline or the rest of the game. Whether the player decides to eliminate the final Sasquatch or not, the player will occasionally find Sasquatch within Tall Trees. - The term "Sasquatch" is an anglicized derivative of the word "Sésquac" which means "wild man" in a Salish Native American language. - Sasquatch cannot be skinned, but can be looted. - Other humans seem to take no notice of Sasquatch, as noted with the Doctor random event, either this or they aren't considered a threat to the doctor. - The Sasquatch are surprisingly easy to kill, as they can be downed with a light shot in the back. - Zombies will chase and kill a Sasquatch as if it were a human. - After the Sasquatch sits next to the tree if the player punches him he will act like a normal Sasquatch and run. He will also run away if attacked by a Zombie. - Sasquatches still appear later in the game, after the "last" six were killed. - If the player attacks a Sasquatch, it will shout "Please no!", "This is my home!" or "You have ruined this land!" - It is possible to lasso the Sasquatch, but it cannot be hogtied. - The sasquatch looks a lot like the sasquatch found in the Patterson-Gimlin film, filmed in 1967. - The sasquatch is most likely a reference to the myths of Bigfoot in the forests of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, another game by Rockstar, due to the fact it and Undead Nightmare both came out on October 26, and the Achievement/Trophy for killing a Sasquatch is named Six Years in the Making. San Andreas was released in 2004, six years before Undead Nightmare. The French version of the achievement/trophy translates as "No need to seek it anymore, CJ" (Plus la peine de chercher, CJ). - It is possible to find both male and female sasquatch. After killing one, closer inspection occasionally reveals a more feminine facial structure and breasts, similar to that of the Patterson-Gimlin Film. There is also a chance for female sasquatch to have flowers on their heads. The dark brown ones are considered to be male and the reddish brown ones are considered to be female. - The in-game Sasquatch seems to have unusually long legs. Most sightings report relatively short legs and long arms. The in-game Sasquatch's rear end is also quite noticeable. - When getting the chance to kill the last sasquatch during the mission, if the player throws a tomahawk at its head, it can survive and follow the player around, but it doesn't attack. - If the player goes just outside of viewing range of the final Sasquatch, and then immediately turns around and goes back, he will have disappeared. - If the player looks where the Sasquatch steps, instead of leaving their trademark footprint, they leave a shoe imprint. - The cheat "Beastmaster" does not work with Sasquatch. They will continue to do whatever they were doing. - Sasquatch have a tendency to run towards zombies when they get near, almost as if to commit suicide. - Sasquatch seem to recognize firearms. They will stare at the player and sometimes even run away when a gun is aimed at them. - While viewing a Sasquatch, they will sometimes crouch and eat berries or run randomly even if there is no visible threat. - During "Birth of the Conservation Movement", Sasquatch can be found around Cochinay, but when the mission is completed, they are only found around the central area of the Tall Trees. - The in-game Sasquatch is most likely based off a human NPC because of the way they act in some situations. Occasionally, they will "sink" into the ground up to their kneecaps, being the same height as the player. Other times, they can be seen performing human activities, such as hanging out by a campfire and even smoking a cigarette. This can be seen here. - When lassoed, sasquatches will fall to the ground, as if dead. They do not struggle or move at all. However, if the player releases it, it will continue with its normal activity. - If the player lassos a Sasquatch, it will seem to "roar." - It is possible to lasso and drag a Sasquatch as far as Manzanita Post. Locals seem to take no notice even though the Sasquatch Hunter claimed a small girl was eaten there by a Sasquatch. - Grand Theft Auto V features a mission with a man in a Bigfoot suit whose dialogue is based on that of Undead Nightmare's Sasquatch. - When attacked by Undead Wolves or Coyotes, Sasquatches will uses the same defensive animation used by NPC: where the canine bites onto the arm but is thrown off. Hunting and killing a Sasquatch will contribute to the acquisition of the following Trophies/Achievements: Find and kill a Sasquatch. Attain 100% Game Completion statistic in Undead Nightmare.

posted on Sep, 26 2013 @ 07:39 PM If you hate those wasps, then stay out of Michigan! I went out to one of my local parks, and along one side of the trail, I heard a loud buzzing noise coming from one of the bushes that had red berries growing on it. When I went closer to see what was causing the buzzing (coming from the woods myself, I was taught that if I hear a loud buzzing, chances are, a hornet's nest is close by; I wanted to verify because some young kids were farther behind me), I found that there were several of these nasty buggers. On the way back, I kept warning people about these giant wasps on the side of the trail (looking back, I'm sure I sounded like I was drinking or stoned). The next day, one of the wasps got overly curious about me, and started to follow me around the park (By this time, I was running - that wasp kept up with me until I went off under the trees). Found out later that the wasp goes by the name "cicada killer" here (or Japanese Hornets elsewhere). Also, supposedly they are really docile, and only will attempt to attack you if you attack them first. I was so disappointed when I found out that it wasn't a cryptid, and that they were already Just make sure you don't get one mad at you - apparently, not only do they not lose their stinger, but they can fly fast, and release a chemical letting other hornets in the area know that you are a threat (I didn't like having the one come after me; hate to have a swarm following my rear).

Russia to build permanent Moon base Barely six weeks after rolling troops into the Crimean Peninsula, an official from Vladimir Putin's Russia has announced the country's next expansion target: the Moon. As reported by the Voice of Russia, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin told the government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta that establishing a permanent Moon base has become one of the country's top space priorities. "The moon is not an intermediate point in the [space] race, it is a separate, even a self-contained goal," Rogozin reportedly said. "It would hardly be rational to make some ten or twenty flights to the moon, and then wind it all up and fly to the Mars or some asteroids." Rogozin's comments were an obvious dig against the US space program. NASA flew its last manned mission to the Moon in 1972 and currently has no plans to return humans to the Earth's satellite. The space agency's next major objective is to rendezvous with an asteroid, and a manned mission to Mars is a perennial favorite topic among US politicians, even if they seem unwilling to provide NASA the funding needed for such an endeavor. Read more at The Register Russian Space Probes: Scientific Discoveries and Future Missions (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration) The Race: The Complete True Story of How America Beat Russia to the Moon Red Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivals That Ignited the Space Age New 'Cross-Shaped' UFO Sighting 4/12/2014 - Manchester, UK: I had just been viewing Moon, Mars and Jupiter using my telescope. I had put the telescope away and was looking east from the door of my house. I looked up and saw a fast moving patch of light. The basic shape of the light was a cross with the cross beam towards the rear of the object The shape was not well defined and not very bright. The shape appeared to be broken into sections. There was no noise at all and the intensity stayed constant. The speed was greater than that of any of the planes we see in the area. I observed for a few seconds then went to get my binoculars which took about 3 seconds by then it had disappeared. Either it had stopped giving off light or had gone below the hills in the distance. - MUFON CMS More mystery ‘explosions’ in Highgate baffle experts Noise experts are scratching their heads over mysterious “explosions” in Highgate – after dozens of residents reported hearing another loud bang this week. People living in the Shepherd’s Hill and Archway Road area of Highgate said they heard a loud explosion noise – similar to a bomb or gas explosion – just before 10pm on Monday. Last week, the Ham&High reported that residents in Highgate have been hearing the loud booming sounds for about 18 months. Officers from Haringey Council’s noise team are investigating but the local authority has been left baffled by the phenomenon. Will Wheatcroft, 31, said he heard the latest “very loud explosion” while sitting on the sofa with his fiancée Stephanie in his Stanhope Road home. “Really it sounded like a car bomb or a gas explosion,” he said. “It made us turn around and say, ‘What the hell was that?’ “I expected to hear sirens a few minutes afterwards, but there weren’t any. After reading the Ham&High, I can now understand why, because it happens a lot.” Residents in Muswell Hill and Crouch End have also reported hearing the noises, that are said to be so loud they shake the foundations of their homes. One Twitter user reported hearing another loud bang on Tuesday night at about 10pm in Crouch End. A couple in Priory Gardens, Highgate, have contacted Haringey police about the sounds. But after a short investigation a spokesman advised residents to alert the council’s noise team instead, unless it is an emergency. The National Grid has ruled out gas explosions in the area while UK Power Networks said the bangs could not be caused by an electrical substation in Shepherd’s Hill Allotments. The Met Office said there was no thunder or lightning on Monday night and Thames Water said the noises could not be caused by sewer repairs in Langdon Park Road and Northwood Road, Highgate. Haringey Council restricts building works to working hours, TfL is not carrying out explosive works at Highgate Underground station, Archway Road. Mr Wheatcroft speculated it could be sonic booms caused by aeroplanes breaking the sound barrier. But a spokesman from the Department of Transport said they would be heard across a much larger distance if they were the source. A council spokesman said it could be “kids with bangers” playing in Queen’s Wood, Muswell Hill, but none of the council’s noise team officers had a probable explanation for the explosions. The local authority will now work with Haringey police to try and identify their source. In an online poll, Ham&High website voters thought the noises were most likely caused by a faulty substation or UFOs. - Hamhigh High Strangeness report Albert Rosales of Humanoid Sighting Reports & Journal of Humanoid Studies forwarded the following report...stating it was similar to a recent blog post: Location: Harlingen Texas Carlos Canas woke up to see a translucent, 7 ft to 8 ft tall being that emitted a green glowing light floating in midair in his bedroom. The being appeared to have only eye sockets and it did not appear to have legs. The top part of the body was smaller than the lower part. It floated back and forth at the foot of the bed appearing to look at the witness. Canas attempted to scream but he could not emit a sound. He finally ran out the bedroom and into his grandmother’s room. Later upon returning to his room the creature had already vanished. Source: Direct communication from witness Type: E High Strangeness Index: 7 Reliability of Source: 8 Comments: Peculiar bedroom visitation case. The glowing green light property of the humanoid is interesting. Occurred around the same time frame and the beings are similar, interesting eh?? |My 'guru' & friend, Rev. Tim Shaw...with BTE Radio paranormal reporter Amy Perry at Phenomacon| TODAY'S TOP LINKS Demons, Djinn and UFOs Was the Legend of Utsuro-bune a Close Encounter of the Third Kind? Eisenhower Briefing Document, MJ-12, and the Washington Alert Ascending to the Stars: The Grouse Mountain Incident When Haunted Cars ATTACK: A True Story of Automotive Spookiness Cryptid: The Lost Legacy of Lewis & Clark Phantoms & Monsters: Cryptid Encounters Abominable Science!: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids Phantoms & Monsters: Strange Encounters

Latest Comics Stories Those awkward Thanksgiving Dinner conversations asking, "So when are you going to get married?" will soon be a thing of the past. This seems more like an episode of "The Three Stooges" than it does a real news event. SANTA CRUZ, Calif., Jan. Sheila McCraith, creator of The Orange Rhino Challenge®, author of "Yell Less, Love More," parenting expert and international Before Tarzan... there was Norman of Torn – his origin was cloaked in mystery and he is misguided by an evil force... all the while building the most powerful army in England. $99 Helicopter Flights to JFK & Newark Liberty Airports NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Time is money. NorthStar acquires assets from Vision Security that expand the company's customer base and provide additional resources for accelerated growth over the next five years. Orem, BURBANK, Calif., Jan. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Marvel Music and Hollywood Records' Grammy®-nominated Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Mix Vol. Ellusionist.com presents PYRO by Adam Wilber. The Beast of Bladenboro is a creature that was blamed for a slew of animal deaths in the winter of 1953-54 in Bladenboro, North Carolina. Witnesses and trackers of the beast suggested it was most likely a wildcat, but uncertainty of its true identity classifies it as a cryptid. Eight miles from Bladenboro in Clarkton, North Carolina, a dog was found dead, on December 29, 1953, possibly caused by the beast of Bladenboro. Witnesses described the creature as sleek, black, and about five feet... Odontaster validus is a species of starfish that is classified within the Odontasteridae family. It can be found in the waters around Antarctica with a range that extends across the Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Peninsula, and the South Shetland Islands, among many other areas. It prefers to reside at depths of up to 2,952 feet. This species can reach an average diameter of four inches, with a wide, soft disk. Its arms are thick but come to a sharp point at the tips, which are often raised up... - A volcanic mudflow.

Posted by: Loren Coleman on June 17th, 2011 Okay, I’m going to open this one to Cryptomundians’ suggestions. This 70-foot long Horseshoe Crab is located in Blanchester, Ohio. Source. I’m taking a road trip. I am going to take a few days to drive from New England to central Illinois, next week, to arrive in Decatur, Illinois, next weekend, and then return. In general, I will follow a southern tier of New York State route, then through Ohio, go through Decatur, Indiana, and go on to Decatur, Illinois. On the way back, I’ll return via Pennsylvania. Therefore, I will bisect two different sections of Indiana and Ohio when I travel both ways. I do not plan to spend all my time on the Interstates, and want to see Mysterious America, specifically, as I had in the decade from 1975-1985, when I traveled through this area a great deal, investigating Black Panther, Bigfoot, Lizardman, Thunderbird, and Giant Snake sightings. Several of my books reflect material from those treks. But I want to throw this open to the floor. Do you know of any weird museums along the way, sites dedicated to cryptids, and/or roadside attractions in this section of mysterious Mid-America that I should stop and see? This giant praying mantis is on US 30 just west of the Rt 219 cloverleaf, Lincoln Highway, near Stoystown, PA. Source. Of course, I’ve done my research and have a few ideas. You will see an unfolding of these on the pages of this blog over the next two weeks. But I wish to add an interactive flavor to my postings by responding very directly to suggestions left via your comments, and stop at some of these places you note along the way. Another giant praying mantis, this one is on the campus of Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. Source. Giant praying mantis sculpture at the Prehistoric Forest in Marblehead, Ohio. Source. Enough of the praying mantises: Where are the Midwestern cryptid roadside attractions? What Cryptomundo-type locations have you visited or know about that might be worth my time? Tell me what back roads to take and what I should stop and see. BTW, if you see a black cryptomobile going down the highway with Maine plates that say “Crypto1″ (with updated Sept 2011 stickers, of course), honk. Mysterious America: The Ultimate Guide to the Nation’s Weirdest Wonders, Strangest Spots, and Creepiest Creatures. NY: Paraview Pocket – Simon and Schuster, 2007. My original 1983 edition of this book became a record of some of my early 1960s’ and 1970s’ road trips around the middle of the country. Likewise, the cryptozoological material in Weird Ohio, which I contributed as one of the three coauthors, is from those excursions into Ohio. Today, on the Internet, these trips would be called “expeditions.” 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.

|Narrated by||Rick Robles| |Theme music composer||Devin Powers| |Country of origin||United States| |No. of seasons||3| |No. of episodes||34 (List of episodes)| |Running time||Approx. 22 minutes| |Production company(s)||Go Go Luckey Entertainment| |Original channel||Animal Planet| |Original run||October 30, 2008– November 9, 2010| Lost Tapes is an American television horror series that aired on Animal Planet. Produced by Go Go Luckey Entertainment, the program presents found footage depicting traumatic encounters with cryptozoological creatures, including the Chupacabra and Bigfoot, and even supernatural creatures such as the Werewolf and Vampire, and extraterrestrials: Alien and Reptilian. The pilot (Chupacabra) aired on Animal Planet October 30, 2008, for Halloween, but the series officially premiered on January 6, 2009. Animal Planet commissioned a second season, which premiered on September 29, 2009. Season 3 premiered on September 28, 2010, with episodes featuring zombies and the Kraken. The show also used to air on Planet Green. |This section does not cite any references or sources. (October 2010)| Lost Tapes depicts traumatic scenarios where people are attacked and/or killed by mysterious, dangerous, deadly, savage, and ferocious paranormal wild cryptids. The series is shot in a mockumentary style. Most episodes begin with a quick introduction of facts, which include interviews with experts explaining scientific theories or facts and folklore behind the episode's titular creature. In the second season, some episodes began with footage of a person being attacked and often killed by the episode's creature, an introduction meant to set up the events of each episode. In the third season, every episode had such an introduction, though the events of every episode in all three seasons are accompanied by videos of scientists, cryptozoologists, and folklorists giving their thoughts and opinions of the creatures, which are called Lost Tapes: Revelations. A common formula in Lost Tapes involves the human characters, usually either a single person or a small group, ending up in a remote part of the world or otherwise in a place with few options of escape, such as enclosed areas like buildings or underground tunnels. They soon encounter the episode's creature in a series of stressful events, which sometimes result in the deaths of some or all of the featured characters. Many episodes end in cliffhangers which state that the creature which appeared in the episode was never found, and may "live among us". With the exception of a brief injury in Thunderbird, no children have been physically harmed on-screen, though sometimes they become traumatized after the events of the episode, as in Chupacabra and Death Raptor. In most episodes, the creatures are often only partially revealed to the audience, and in brief glimpses or otherwise only as silhouettes, shadows, or are obscured by darkness; sometimes they are never seen at all (such as in Thunderbird and Chupacabra), but their presence is made obvious by sounds and the characters' reactions to them. To give the show a mysterious atmosphere, techniques such as those used in Jaws are employed, and the creatures are almost never fully seen. Hellhound, the last episode of the first season, marked the first time that a creature was fully shown on camera, and the second season revealed more creatures than the first: in Jersey Devil, for instance, the creature's legs, hooves, and face are briefly shown; in Vampire, the creature's entire body can be seen on several occasions, such as when the creature watches the boy sleep, though only briefly; and in the season's last episode, Dover Demon, the entire creature can be seen in the background when a night vision camera is turned on. The third season showed even more creatures, and many of them in full view of the camera. However, realism was better-maintained with human-like creatures, such as in Zombies and Reptilian. Even non-human-like animals were shown more frequently, though this led to some negative criticism among fans as many of the creatures in the third season were less convincing with low budget animatronics and CGI, such as in Kraken and Q: The Serpent God, or even simply people in costumes, as in Devil Monkey and Yeti. While most episodes feature the titular cryptid as the antagonist, in some episodes they benefit the people that the story follows. For example, in Bigfoot, the creature seems to be watching over and protecting the main character, even killing a poacher that was trying to attack her; Mothman implies that the featured cryptid was trying to warn people about the imminent collapse of a bridge. While there is normally no connection between episodes, the third season introduced the recurring Enigma Corporation, "a private security firm that specializes in the unexplained," though it is not exactly clear what order each of the episodes featuring them is supposed to be in chronologically or if the characters Noel Connor and Elise Mooney remember their experiences in each episode, as no connection between each time besides the third (and in Strigoi Vampire fourth) agent being killed. The Enigma Corporation first appeared in the third season's premiere, Zombies, and reappeared in Strigoi Vampire and again in Q: The Serpent God. |Season premiere||Season finale| |1||14||October 30, 2008||February 17, 2009| |2||10||September 29, 2009||November 24, 2009| |3||10||September 28, 2010||November 9, 2010| Lost Tapes has received mixed reviews from critics. In a review of the season one DVD, TV Squad writer John Scott Lewinski gave the series a mostly unfavorable review, stating that in the case of this series, "Animal Planet could be accused of repacking a horror/sci-fi show as an animal documentary" and that much of the program is "outright bollocks." He did, however, state that the show holds some appeal for audiences looking for a scare, or "incredibly gullible people." Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gave the series three out of five stars, noting that while the acting was "subpar", the show overall was "simultaneously scintillating and bone-chilling." - "ANIMAL PLANET UNLEASHES BOLD ENTERTAINMENT SLATE IN 2009-2010 UPFRONT SEASON" (Press release). Animal Planet. 2009-04-02. Retrieved 2009-07-23. - Lewinski, John Scott (2009-07-18). "Mysterious creatures haunt Animal Planet's Lost Tapes DVD". TVSquad.com. Retrieved 2010-02-13.

In late December 2010, I got a tip that one of the biggest rappers in the world was hosting a last-minute New Year's Eve party at Club Empire in Ybor City. The club's owner said it was a done deal. He put me in touch with a promoter who not only confirmed the news, he handed the phone to an even tighter source. "I will be in Tampa, bringing in the new year at Empire nightclub," said the familiar, crusty croak on the other end of the line. "We just gonna show up, do our thing. We'll probably hang out for a minute. Then I gotta get back to Atlanta." Wow, I remember thinking. That was Lil Wayne. Except ... it wasn't. The whole thing was a scam — part of a series of scams, actually, in which con artists claiming to be Lil Wayne's handlers would rip off clubs by purporting to book the hip-hop icon for concerts and appearances. The scam got so bad, so prevalent, that Weezy's people had to issue a statement clearing the whole mess up. Many people, including yours truly, got snookered, but can you blame them? When it comes to Lil Wayne, discerning fact from fiction, man from myth, can be a Herculean task. Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. has long been in the discussion for the title of Best Rapper Alive, from his days as a New Orleans hip-hop prodigy through his uber-platinum Tha Carter series. He's won four Grammys, sold millions of albums and tens of millions of singles, and launched the careers of Drake and Nicki Minaj through his label, Young Money Entertainment. President Obama has said he's got Weezy on his iPod. But as a pure pop personality, Lil Wayne has grown impossible to pigeonhole. He's not a larger-than-life mogul like Jay-Z, an antagonistic artiste like Kanye West, a braggadocious behemoth like Rick Ross, a reclusive visionary like Eminem. He's a cipher, a cryptid, a "Martian" — his word, not ours — whose interests range from skateboarding to sportswriting to beginner-level rock guitar. He sucks down codeine-laced cocktails like a bronchitic vampire, yet when he's on, few can match his spry and sprightly command of the mic. But critics say all of Wayne's outside interests are getting in the way of his once-boundless creativity. His legal troubles and increasingly erratic behavior have made him a target for tabloids like TMZ, which in March reported he was near death following a series of seizures. This year alone, he's launched a feud with the Miami Heat, been fired as a spokesman for Mountain Dew and released his 10th studio album, I Am Not a Human Being II, to some of the worst reviews of his career. His croaky delivery has grown muddier; his rhymes, once so blazingly witty and playful, more profane. "In a couple of years' span, he became the Lil Wayne, and not just Lil Wayne the artist," said Orlando Davis, program director and morning host at hip-hop station Wild 94.1. "And a lot of the press has been less about his proficiency in metaphor and verse, and more with the extracurricular stuff. That's the gift and the curse of becoming famous." With Lil Wayne's America's Most Wanted Tour stopping at Tampa's MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre on Saturday, we decided to take stock of his life and career. We also asked a few Tampa notables to weigh in with their favorite Weezy stories. Are they all true? Well, who knows? That's just part of the legend of Lil Wayne. Founder, Skatepark of Tampa Over the past few years, Lil Wayne has visited the Skatepark of Tampa about a half dozen times, either for late-night skate sessions or to watch the park's annual Tampa Pro tournament. The dude just has a passion for skateboarding. They reached out and wanted to come by during one of his shows, and we lined it up. Because his shows are at night, the only time he has to skate is after shows. Even when they're in Miami, they've been here from 2 to 3 in the morning to 6 or 7 in the morning. They come in and do the midnight shift. When we do it, we keep it on the DL and don't blast it out. Of course, it'd be awesome to go, "Weezy's coming to the Skatepark!" and put it on our social media channels for our own selfish reasons. But it's just one of those things we respect. It's happened in the past with Dave Chappelle and other people that have been in that wanted to skate. They just want to come in through the back, and we just accommodate him where we can, because he's a celebrity, so the last thing we want is that dude walking through the front with 100 people mobbing him. I could totally lie and say he only comes to our event, but he loves to skate, and while he's on tour, he tries to go to as many parks as he can, because this way, he can just do his thing. He's been throughout a ton of parks throughout the country, and friends of ours have been there to connect with him. We've given him contacts up and down the east coast. Every time that he comes through, they always give us tickets and access to the show. They're always complimentary, and they always take care of us if we need anything. I would say if he's healthy, he'll probably be giving us a call to see if he can come skate while he's in town." Program director/morning host, Orlando and the Freakshow, Wild 94.1 We were at the VMAs, and he sat down at the table; we had a really good interview. He was like, "Man, I love Tampa!" And he reminded me — because I had heard this story, but (didn't believe it) until I heard it from his mouth — "I got shot in Tampa!" I'm like, what? It was at Club XS. Club XS is not there anymore, but it was formerly right across from the Tampa Convention Center, right before you go over to Harbour Island. We used to be there every Friday night. He said, "I remember we did a show there. I was giving some girl some attention, and she wanted to get on the bus." Nobody would let her on the bus. They were like, "Nah, we can't hear you!" She was like, "Get Wayne!" Wayne came over to the bus door but wouldn't open the door, and was acting like he couldn't hear. And apparently this chick brandishes a .22, and shoots it through the door, and it hits him, and they pull off, and they go get him done up. He showed me this scab, and he was like, "This is where I was shot in Tampa." I had heard something like that, but I didn't think it was true, because there was no fallout, there was no police, there was nothing. She left, he left. But she shot him because she couldn't become a concubine on the bus. I'm like: Welcome to Tampa. Pitcher, Tampa Bay Rays A huge sports fan, Lil Wayne has over the years shown a lot of love for the Rays' resident ace. In 2008, just a few weeks after Price made his big-league debut, Weezy told ESPN that Price was among his favorite players. I remember it clear as day. I had only been in the big leagues for two weeks, maybe. And they asked him, "If he was to come out to one of your songs, what song would you tell him to come out to?" He said I'm Me, and that's my No. 1 Lil Wayne song. If I had picked a song to come out to from Lil Wayne, it would definitely be I'm Me. I just thought that was unbelievable. I remember that entire day, just being on cloud nine, sending that article to all my friends and family. I thought that was the coolest thing ever. The offseason before last year, I just sent a tweet out, talking about somebody making me a walk-out song or something. And one of my buddies, I guess he knows all their managers, and he sent it to them. And by the time I drove to the Trop, did all my work and was driving back, I already had a phone call from Birdman. I couldn't believe it. I got back home and their manager texted me and said, "Hey, Baby and them are about to give you a call if you're free." ... They called and talked to me for a couple of minutes. They knew my stats! They knew everything that was going on! It really blew me away. I sent all the Cash Money guys All-Star jerseys. They sent me a huge box of YMCMB hats, sweatshirts, clothing. I brought that stuff in here and let the guys take what they wanted, and I've still got a whole bunch of stuff for myself. It was pretty cool. Anjali "Queen B" McGuire Afternoon DJ, 95.7 The Beat I've been following him since he was 15, when he first started with Cash Money. I loved his voice; I thought, he's awfully slick in the lips to be so young and talking like that. So I've always enjoyed him. But when he would call himself a Martian, that about sums it up, because he's weird in a fantastic way. I used to work in Minneapolis before they brought me here, and we had a show at the Target Center, where the Timberwolves play. A friend that was doing the show, a promoter, invited me to come and sit on the stage. Literally right before he went onstage, he passed me, and he just turned around and said, "Hey, sexy." I looked and I was like, "Me?!" We just caught eyes, he gave me a "Hey, sexy," and I was like, Oh my god ... he spoke to me!

It’s Halloween season, and even some of the most avid true-crime enthusiasts go from listening to cases about serial killers and missing persons to gravitating to stories about the paranormal. If that’s you, give Monsters Among Us a listen. It’s a collection of first-hand audio recordings made directly from experiencers of various types of terrifying paranormal encounters. The host, Derek Hayes, gets the listeners in the right frame of mind in the first few seconds of every episode with his intentionally creepy voice. The Unsolved-Mysteries-like theme music does a good job of that, as well. The show offers deep dives into supernatural subjects ranging from ghosts, UFOs, and alien abductions to bigfoot, sasquatch, and other cryptid creatures. All of the stories presented in the podcast are, as the Monsters Among Us website reads, “true to the best of our knowledge.” Despite that disclaimer, skeptics may be quick to assume some stories are fabricated. However, most of the accounts are such that, at the very least, those telling the stories truly believe that what they witnessed was truly paranormal. Whether you believe the stories or not, the podcast is definitely entertaining. October 2022 Issue

Big Foot Fans! Sasquatch is Stomping into Shreveport in March! Whether you call it Big Foot, Sasquatch, Yeti, the Fouke Monster, or a Rougarou it doesn't matter. All you need to know is that we'll be celebrating all things Cryptid in Shreveport in March! The Inaugural Louisiana Bigfoot Film Festival is coming to Shreveport's Scottish Rite Temple on Saturday, March 26, 2022. The film festival will feature four films about the elusive big man himself! All four films were filmed in the deep south and if you're interested, you can find tickets at Eventbrite.com for $25. The event will run from 9 am - 11 pm and filmmakers and researchers will be on hand to answer all of your questions regarding Big Foot and his many iterations. One of the films being showcased is Creature from Black Lake filmed exclusively in northwest Louisiana. Also being screened is the paranormal horror documentary Skinwalker: Howl of the Rougarou. Another film being showcased is The Legend of Boggy Creek. While the Big Foot Film Festival event page says they'll showcase four films, I only found mention of three. I'm guessing they'll announce another piece in time for the event. Experts on hand for questions will include Will Lunsford, Lyle Blackburn, and M.K. Davis. The Scottish Rite Temple is located in downtown Shreveport at 725 Cotton Street and is a treat to tour all on its own. Connect with the event organizers via their Facebook page. See you there, Hairy!

14 Urban Legends That Will Frighten You Forever and Keep You Up All Night Are there any urban legends you simply can’t get past? Perhaps you first heard it from friends in school, or elders told you stories of myths and folklore. Rationally, you know you are safe. But there is still a part of you that fears the tale. If you wish to give yourself a good old frightening, read on for 14 haunting urban legends as recalled by an online forum. Alternatively, do you have any to share? 1. The Hook Our first urban legend is a classic involving a crazed dude with a hook instead of one hand. Said character goes around ambushing couples making out in their cars. In typical horror movie style, the couple hears there is a serial killer on the loose on the radio right before getting “hooked” to death. 2. Naale Baa This next freaky tale takes us to India. The legend of Naale Baa consists of a malicious spirit dressed as a bride. She tricks victims into letting her into their homes, where she then finishes them off. Supposedly, the only way to protect yourself is by writing her name down on your door. 3. The Child-Eating Bird In Mexican folklore, there is a giant bird monster that eats children who misbehave. It’s an urban legend to make children behave. One person shares their experience wearing a cardinal mascot costume during a high school football game. They ended up taking the costume back home. Coincidentally, their aunt and little cousin were staying over. When the cousin was being mischievous, the aunt told them to wear the costume to teach the youngling a lesson. Needless to say, the little cousin was terrified to the core. But hey, at least she behaved afterward. Have you heard of the urban legend of Strzyga? It is a creature that lives on the edge of the woods or fields with tall grass and preys on the hearts of those who wander at night. It is notorious for making its way to eat the human heart, starting from the face. 5. The Old Red Eye One person shares the local legend of a human-like creature with one big red eye. It was known to live in the nearby woods and, like most monsters, would only come out at night. Although there was no story of it attacking anyone, the possibility alone was frightening enough for children. 6. The Watchful People Next up is a legend that is my favorite due to its spine-tickling yet subtle eerieness. Some people live in your dreams. Here’s the scary bit: You don’t know who is one of “the people” in the dream, but legend has it they are always watching. As one person emphasizes, they always watch and wait for you to realize you are dreaming. 7. Killer Clowns Clowns are a common fear among people. One user recalls being told about “Killer Clowns” at the age of eight. The clowns were known to drive about the neighborhood in a worn-down Ford Transit, searching for kids to torture. Unfortunately, the torture methods were meticulously crafted to mutilate one’s face. No wonder clowns have a bad rap. Several commenters mention being creeped out by skinwalkers. It is believed that these creatures hold the ability to shapeshift. But the worst part is that they can stare into your eyes and manipulate your actions. The monsters can easily take you out. 9. A Bad Drive This one may not be a conventional urban legend, but it still won’t fail to send a shiver down your spine. Imagine someone hiding underneath your car or bed and hindering you by attacking the achilles tendon. Though it may be fiction, the thought of it happening is bound to cross the mind every time one gets in their car. Immediately, forum members were reminded of the terrifying scene in the movie Pet Sematary. The Japanese tale of Teketeke leaves an imprint. People at school badly bullied Teketeke. Once, she was beaten up on train tracks on her way home. Not long after the bullies escaped, a train approached. Unfortunately, Teketeke couldn’t get out of its way in time. As a result, she lost her limbs, and legend has it she is searching for her lost legs to this day. A user shares a Finnish urban legend about Näkki. Näkki is a water monster who can grab children’s feet and pull them in if they go too deep. Now, that’s one way to prevent kids from drowning. Or keep them from ever entering a body of water ever again! 12. El Chupacabra El Chupacabra translates to “the goat-sucker” based on the creature’s tendency to drain its victims’ blood. Stemming from North America and Latin America, the chupacabra comes from the Spanish words for “to suck” (chupar) and “goat” (cabra) after its preferred cuisine. People are terrified of the beast. 13. The GPS Demons This urban legend is bound to scare away any lost travelers. One explains that in their father’s home country, there’s a story that certain demons can take human form but can’t change their hooves. They give incorrect directions to lost travelers that will take them off a cliff or get more lost. Yikes. Next time you ask someone for directions, make sure to double-check their feet. 14. Bloody Mary Growing up, kids in school were constantly talking about “Bloody Mary.” The myth goes that if you chant her name in the mirror, she will appear. Totally terrifying as a middle school kid! Monsters on Screen: Here’s the Internet’s 12 Favorite Cryptid Movies It’s time to step into the realm of cryptids as we explore the internet’s favorite mysterious creatures on-screen. These movies showcase hidden creatures, urban legends, and more. So grab your popcorn and get ready for spine-tingling encounters. Prepare for a freaky ride through these monstrous tales. “I Saw a Sasquatch!” 5 People Share Their Incredible Bigfoot Sightings Cryptozoology is known as a pseudoscience. While scientists identify new species using scientific methodology, cryptozoologists use folk tales and stories that surface regarding these alleged animals. According to mainstream researchers, Bigfoot or Sasquatch are said to be cryptids, animals that cryptozoologists believe might exist but do not yet have proof that they do exist. Others believe they are “hairy men” of the woods or interdimensional beings. 15 States Where Your Chances of Seeing a UFO Are the Highest The tingling feeling of seeing something that might be an alien sailing through the skies is incomparable. Whether you want to be one of the lucky thousands who have had a UFO sighting or leave the star-gazing to the astronomers, this list will show you where to go (or where to avoid). Have you seen a UFO? The 10 Legendary Cryptids That Turned Out To Be Real Cryptids are a strange phenomenon. We would all love there to be a Bigfoot, Chupacabra, or Loch Ness Monster. However, it appears we may have to wait — or will we? Did you know that many “cryptids” in the past turned out to be real-life creatures? Here are ten that turned out to be real. 15 Dangerous US Cities You May Reconsider Visiting or Moving To You’re excited about planning a trip or considering moving to a new city. Still, you need to learn more about your destination. So it’s beneficial to keep up-to-date about how safe your chosen location is. We all know cities have their vibe and cool stuff, but there’s also the not-so-fun side of potential risks. Violence and property crimes make up the issues currently facing the following cities. Where indicated, some images courtesy of Depositphotos.com.

Smokey the Bear, also known as Smokey Bear, is one of the most iconic figures in modern history. Originally popularized by the U.S. Forest Service, the cartoonish bear was used in a variety of marketing campaigns to raise awareness for forest fires. The famous slogan "Only YOU can prevent forest fires" is something that the American public will likely never forget. While some may have chalked Smokey the Bear up to a relic of the past, I am happy to report that MetaZoo will be releasing an exclusive Smokey Bear promotional card which will only be available for purchase at Target. Author's Note: The names "Smokey the Bear" and "Smokey Bear" can be used interchangeably. Both names refer to the same character although the correct name is technically "Smokey Bear" Details about the product have not yet been disclosed. It's unclear if this card will be a part of a booster box, booster pack, or some other product format. It's interesting to note that the collaboration is exclusive to Target at this point in time. Considering that Smokey the Bear is not a cryptid, this announcement was found as confusing by some. However, these people fail to remember the eco-friendly origins of MetaZoo's set Wilderness — which Smokey the Bear is presumably an extension of. As we pointed out several months ago, Wilderness was the first set released by MetaZoo to have the booster box manufactured from recycled materials. Furthermore, the brand made a pledge to plant a tree for every sale which has resulted in tens of thousands of trees being planted since. In this context, the partnership with Smokey the Bear makes perfect sense and is a fascinating use of this iconic character. Kudos to MetaZoo for keeping the Wilderness set consistent with the spirit of ecology and forestry — and of course — the wilderness.

Thursday, 31 January 2019 Bigfoot is the granddaddy of all cryptid mysteries, the hairy man of the forest is part of popular culture. The mysterious beast calls the forests of North America home. The Sasquatch has been difficult to find evidence is sparse and credible sightings rare. Could looking somewhere else help us to uncover the Bigfoot? We know that the study of cousin species of other types of animal have helped us to learn about the habits and behaviors for other illusive species in different regions could we do the same with our cryptid friend? How about looking in a location found on the other side of the world? Australia and the legend of the Yowie? Let’s take a look. Let’s start back in 1804, and the book ‘Modern Geography ‘– a Description of the Empires, Kingdoms, States and Colonies’: with the Oceans, Seas and Isles: In all Parts of the World. Now that’s some book title “snappy” This book was published by a John Pinkerton. Contained within the pages of this book is a comment regarding a population of Aborigines that shared Sydney Harbor with another indigenous tribe of native people. The writer gives a description of the people saying they had flat-noses with wide nostrils; thick eyebrows and sunken eyes. Their mouths were of ‘prodigious width’ their lips thick and jaws prominent. The Aborigine tribes in the region regarded them as another people entirely naming them the Yahoos or Yowies. This in the native tongue meaning “hairy people”. These hairy people were not the only reported Wildman in Australia there were said to be Two Yowie Groups. The Kuku Yalanji Tribe of Tropical North Queensland, believe in the existence of these creatures. They tell of how they have coexisted with the Yowie for centuries. They give a long and detailed history of Yowie attacks in their legends, a large number of cautionary tales used to warn others in the tribe that if they see one of the beasts to be careful. These Yowie stories are similar to stories told by Native American tribes and the Sasquatch. These two types of Yowie said to be found in Australia are thought to be same species which is often linked to Bigfoot, Gigantopithecus. Descriptions of the wild men say that there is a larger species reported to grow to between 6 and 10 feet in height, and weighs in at around 1,000 lbs. Resembling a huge hair covered ape-like man with clawed fingers. There are some differences with its North American cousin the Sasquatch, Yowie are said to have a more primate looking face and head, and they walk very upright no slouching over when walking as is reported by witnesses of sasquatch. It’s also more aggressive towards humans. The second reported species of Yowie is described as being smaller, standing at around 4-5 feet. Could this be a separate ancient species of hominid that has avoided extinction? Is it just another subspecies of Gigantopithecus? These hominids have appeared for a long time and are depicted in local cave art. The cave painting show tall, hairy figures standing beside smaller Aboriginal figures. So what other Yowie Contact has been reported? European contact with the Yowie is said to have started when the First Fleets arrived in Sydney Cove in 1788. During the early colonial era, Aboriginal tribe members would often warned the British settlers to be on the lookout for an ape-like creatures which lurked in the mountains and deep forests of the continent. In 1789 an encounter took place when a group of convicts and a party of marines took part in a hunting trip. The group had shot a number of wallabies and were making their way back to the settlement when, atop a nearby hill, they saw a mysterious man like animal observing them from amongst the trees. They later claimed was twice the height of an average man. These stories continued over the years, fleeting glances strange calls and the legend grew with the settlers. This bringing us to today and reports of the Yowie in modern times. Darling Downs mountain ranges near Toowoomba A BUSHWALKER claims to have spotted the Yowie. In an audio interview a woman says she was 6m away from Australia’s answer to the Sasquatch Telling the interviewer about her experience she said “It was probably around seven foot tall, it had a head like a gorilla and long arms, I couldn’t see it from the waist down because it was walking through the long grass,”. Going on to describe how the creature sat down in long grass and seemed to ignore her. She went on to say: “I tried to get it to turn around but I was scared and didn’t want to aggravate him,” As with the Bigfoot the Yowie has become a cottage industry books, movies, TV and websites have grown up out of this legend. One such website is ‘The Yowie Hunters’ they run the Australian Yowie Research website and have recorded more than 10 sightings in the Queensland are over the past five years. This website tells of one the most recent and terrifying encounters with a Yowie recently reported. The creature was spotted in an area known as Nimbin. A frightened a female witness saw the beast on March 5 in Mt Jerusalem National Park at around 7 in the evening. Dean Harrison Yowie hunter and member of the Australian Yowie Research group has been hunting these creatures for more than 20 years, in this time he has had many Yowie encounters. Over the years he has amassed an impressive database of written and audio witness accounts, news articles, images and physical evidence including footprints. Dean recounts the story of an anonymous resident. The story goes: "It was after Cricket Training at around 6.30pm and I was driving back from Uki to Mullumbimby and detoured along a dirt road and went over a cow crossing when I needed to pull over to have a pee. "There was an area where a bulldozer had pushed down trees on the side of the road to make a clearing next to a valley, so I pulled over there. "I had finished my wee and heard something around me and didn't know what it was. I did a howl to see if was a feral dog and what not, and I got a response. I did some more howling and I got more back. Then I got a growl and a grunting, so I got my cricket bat out. "When it started doing tree knocking back at me, I thought 'Oh yeah, it's someone playing silly buggers with me', but there's no houses out there, it's just bush. I thought it must have been some smart ass out there playing a joke on me. "It knocked twice, so I knocked back twice. I knocked again, and it did the same back. I thought stuff this and did a howl and a scream - that's when everything went pear shaped. "I heard thumping coming down the hill into the gully in front of me. At first I thought it was kangaroo, but I've never heard anything that heavy before. It was like the ground was moving underneath me. It went down the hill into the gully then come up the gully towards me. I was like, what have I got myself into. "It was now about 10 metres in front of me coming up this hill, a steep embankment, and I had really bad vibes from this thing. I heard a scream, grunt and growl all in one. I jumped in my car turned my high beams on and there it was standing in front of me. "I know it was no person in a suit. It was standing on the fire trail, 6 to 7ft tall and full of hair and it had breasts. I went for my phone to take a photo of it. I didn't take my eyes of it when I was reaching for the phone, and then off she went. Back down into the gully. It was scary. "There has been a lot of talk in the past about hunters having sightings in there and their hunting dogs running out with their ears back and tails between their legs. "When it was in my headlights, it was 6 to 7ft, it had a face with eyes about golf ball size, it had really long hair which as a guess would have been about 5" long. "It was just standing there staring at me. When I was reaching for my phone, I saw that its hands were all the way down towards its knees. I'm 6 foot - 7 inches, and my arms don't come down near my knees. The arms were huge. "The eyes glowed with or without the light bar. It smelt like five week old road kill. "It wasn't a person in a suit. It had breasts. I wish I had got a photo. I really wish I had got a photo. It had hair down its cleavage and hair around and on top of its breasts. Some parts of the breasts had hair and some parts without hair. "The hair colour was a light brown, but the skin colour was blacker. The hair around the face was a light brown. The hair around the hands was black. The rest was light to darkish brown. It was the scariest thing I've ever seen. "I told my friends about it today and they said I am full of it. I said I saw what I saw. I wish I had got a photo to show everyone what I saw. "The face was like a gorilla's face. "Instead of being round like a human face, this was more of an oval size. It had big golf ball size eyes. Most reports you read tell of red eyes, but these were reddish-blue and they lit up with my light bar on. It had a nose that looked pushed in type of thing. It had a beard, and hair over its top lip. One thing I found strange about it was the mouth. The human mouth is small, this one's mouth was 5 to 7" long. It had a big mouth on it. I didn't see any teeth because its mouth wasn't open. "It was standing there swaying side to side. It was behind a fern, but over towering the fern and going from side to side. It had its hands down and just doing the side to side motion. "When I reached my phone, it must have seen it light up or something, because it just took off down the valley. I didn't get a chance for a photo. As I went for the button, off she went down the hill." So what do you think is this creature a cousin of the North American Bigfoot? Could the similar descriptions of appearance and behavior give us a little more insight into Sasquatch? Do you think that these creatures are just myth a device to warn people of the dangers that are found in the wilderness?Let me know your thoughts I the comments below Wednesday, 30 January 2019 The great flood myths are something we have looked at in other videos here on the channel. With so many cultures sharing this belief it was only a matter of time before evidence begin to surface that supported these legends. The geological record now shows that indeed this flood happened, the cause is still open to speculation. So if the flood did occur could another well-known story associated with the flood be true? Noah and his ark. It’s a story that most people know, and again, one that has a different but similar version with each culture that tells the story. So is there any evidence for Noah? Well THE Grand Canyon may hold proof of Noah's Ark and its Biblical flood, according to a recent documentary. Ark Experts have made the claim that they have 'found proof' of the mysterious biblical vessel. Originally the location of the ark was said to be mount Ararat but according to this new evidence that idea could be wrong. The new location for the Ark? Well it’s one of the most famous features found in nature, a natural wonder of the world. The Grand Canyon! “Unlocking Ancient Secrets of the Bible” a book that can be found online, a group of biblical scientists ask the question if the natural marvel that is the Grand Canyon could have been created by the great flood event found in the Legend of Noah. They postulate the idea that Grand Canyon was formed as some kind of natural spillway for the waters that Christians believe wiped the Earth clean in the Flood which God warned Noah about and instructed him to build the vessel we are familiar with today. Animals from all over the planet kept safe dry as they arrived two by two. Another theory that maybe worth looking at is the idea that the Ark was an advanced alien vessel given to Noah by God, God being an extraterrestrial , religion and Aliens is something we covered in the video linked above. This ideas says The Ark did not take physical animals into its bowels but was a repository for the DNA of all living things on the planet. But let’s stay on topic. There are two theories on the water of the great flood some say it slowly grew from the torrential rain and storms other believes it formed quickly, with a lot of water in a little time cause flood surges that left their mark in the geological record. In an interview with scientist, John Baumgartner he talks about this flood saying, “One thing you might expect is billions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the Earth. That’s exactly what we find in the geological record. A record of lots of things suddenly buried, including very large animals buried whole.” This is interesting, as I said at the start it is proof of a catastrophic flood but it’s not a case of one plus one making two. Just because a flood happened it doesn’t mean we should automatically assume that Noah was also a real character. The story could be a framing device to warn future peoples of an event that was so horrific it has been passed down through the generations in the form of the stories we find all over the globe. So how does the theory of a global flood fit with geological features like the Grand Canyon? Baumgartner goes onto explain his idea saying: “We tell different stories about its history. This eighteen-mile wide canyon and the hundred foot river would cause some erosion.” But the creationists might see a different idea. This looks for all the world like a larger volume of water came through here and carved this thing out rapidly. “That would be the great flood of Noah’s day.” It is true that at present rates, the river we see today would take millions of years to carve out the Grand Canyon but it was much more powerful in the past but according to supporters of the idea the evidence does, however, point to Noah’s Flood. There are two beach lines from what used to be two large lakes near the Grand Canyon. Creationists support the idea that after Noah’s Flood, these lakes became too full broke their banks and spilled over the top. Giving the example of water overflowing a dam, they claim as water breaks over a barrier the weakest point is instantly eroded. This process being what formed the Grand Canyon, they claim it would have been formed quickly, and that this is supporting the ideas of creationist and their interpretation of the great flood. The Bible, does however, say that the great flood covered the whole earth. This means we should find many more places where the water drained. The Grand Canyon is one of those places. It is a washed-out spillway and provides great evidence for Noah’s Flood. So where is the Ark if we found that then we would have proof. Well is not in the Grand Canyon. the best bet is still Turkey. A team of evangelical Christian explorers claimed that they found the remains of Noah's ark beneath snow and volcanic debris on Turkey's Mount Ararat. A group of Turkish and Chinese explorers from a group called Noah's Ark Ministries International made the discovery back in 2010. They reported finding the Ark when they discovered seven large wooden compartments buried at 13,000 feet above sea level atop Mount Ararat. The team radiocarbon-dated wood taken from the site. The date that was given for these remnants of the ark was about 4,800 years old, which coincides roughly with the time of Noah's flood. But is this Noah’s ship most think not, even if the Noah's Ark Ministries International team did find a wooden structure or even a boat on Mount Ararat, there are other explanations for what the structure could be. As an example, it could be a shrine constructed by early Christians to commemorate the site where they believed Noah's Ark should be. Do you think the story of Noah holds water? Is the Grand Canyon proof of the great flood? Did the evangelical Christian explorers discover the lost vessel? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. - March 2023 (3) - August 2020 (6) - July 2020 (7) - June 2020 (10) - May 2020 (10) - April 2020 (12) - March 2020 (11) - February 2020 (13) - January 2020 (11) - December 2019 (9) - November 2019 (13) - October 2019 (7) - September 2019 (11) - August 2019 (17) - July 2019 (5) - June 2019 (9) - May 2019 (8) - April 2019 (9) - March 2019 (12) - February 2019 (12) - January 2019 (13) - December 2018 (11) - November 2018 (11) - October 2018 (13) - September 2018 (10) - August 2018 (10) - July 2018 (8) - June 2018 (6) - May 2018 (9) - April 2018 (7) - March 2018 (9) - February 2018 (8) - January 2018 (9) - December 2017 (9) - November 2017 (8) - October 2017 (8) - September 2017 (5) - August 2017 (6) - July 2017 (10) - June 2017 (9) The Drake equation is a mathematical equation that was developed by astronomer Frank Drake in 1961 to estimate the number of intelligent... Subscribe To We are IF Cryptid profile time once again, for those new here, this is where I take a look at a cryptid or cryptids and their history and reported... Secret societies have been around as long as civilization itself, if you believe in a hidden hand manipulating the world or that the cer... Most sightings of unidentified flying objects happen to be from people looking up at the sky and seeing something distant and difficult to... It's all around us, sometimes it's good, other times its bad, being British it a little of an obsession and usually the starting t... One of my favourite movies is the slightly cheesy but always fun to watch “Ghost ship”. A film in which a team of salvagers stumble upon a... A quick story from Home County to round this week out. Roswell New Mexico, The Aurora Crash Texas and The Kecksburg UFO incident are a... Today The media machine is on a relentless march to insert itself into almost every aspect of our daily lives. They desperately ba... Brazilian Sasquatch. A creature that for the longest time has been said to roam the rain forest of Brazil. An animal that has many stran... UFOs are seen all around the globe. They are often distant lights in the sky and can be very difficult to accurately judge the size and ... Living a long healthy life is something that we all want to achieve, for most we get around 60 to 70 years but there are those that some s...

Cryptid Kids Graphic Novel Volume 01 The Bawk-Ness Monster A middle grade graphic novel about a gang of kids who become cryptid hunters. Penny swears that when she was a little girl, a creature called the Bawk-ness Monster-half sea-serpent, half chicken-saved her from drowning. Now, years later, she's about to move away to a new city, and before she goes she needs the help of her best friends, Luc and K, for a vitally important mission: to help her see "Bessie" one more time and prove that what happened was real. But in their quest to find Bessie, the kids stumble into a whole new problem-cryptids are being kidnapped by an evil collector, and only Penny, Luc, and K can save them! First Second Books Action & Adventure, Graphic Novels, Kids

Nov 26, 2020 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@example.com 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 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. 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: Seth Breedlove Small Town Monsters https://amzn.to/2yemd8x 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!

Summer is winding down and the pumpkin spice is coming out… for some this is a time of sadness, knowing that beach days are gone till next Summer. But for the freaks like us, it is absolutely party time. We are getting SO much to devour this spooky season, which includes a new Exorcist (thank you, Taylor Swift for getting it to us early), a new Saw film with the original killers, and a TON MORE. But we will also be reading good this September because the horror comics do not stop coming. This month, we have a little bit for everyone with books based on true events to books about monster superheroes, and so much more. As always, Look for these at your local comic book shop, and if you need help finding one, be sure to use the Comic Shop Locator. Upcoming Title Alert: Count Crowley: Mediocre Midnight Monster Hunter COUNT CROWLEY IS BACK! After the mega cliffhanger at the end of Count Crowley: Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter, I have been foaming at the mouth, waiting to find out what will happen to my favorite comic horror host next. David Dastmalchian, Lukas Ketner, Lauren Affe, and Frank Cvetkovic all return to bring the next volume to life. See our exclusive look at the covers of the first issue here and some insight from David on Vol 3. Be sure to tell your shop to pre-order because it arrives in shops on November 8th! September New Releases: Hunt for the Skinwalker - September 6th Publisher: BOOM! Studios Writer: Zac Thompson Artist: Valeria Burzo Colorist: Jason Wordie Letterer: Joe Sabino Skinwalker Ranch is the subject of several documentaries, films, and stories revolving around not only skin-walkers but numerous paranormal and UFO-related activities. They really seem to be going for the spooky trifecta over there on the ranch. Zac Thompson and Valeria's new 4-issue mini-series adapts the book of the same name by Colm A. Kelleher, Ph.D. and George Knapp. Both chronicle the unexplainable phenomena on the Utah ranch that plagued a family who invested everything into the farm and the scientist who got locked in a game of cat and mouse with something once the family left. I wasn't sure what to expect when I read issue one, but it's a really unique way to bring this story to a new audience. What goes down on Skinwalker Ranch will change how you look at skin-walkers forever. CREEPSHOW - September 13th Publisher: SKYBOUND and Image Writers: Garth Ennis, Phil Hester Artists: Becky Cloonan, Phil Hesters Inker: Eric Gastur Colorists: Lee Loughridge, Mike Spicer Letterer: Pat Brosseau Creepshow is a horror household name, originally created by George A. Romero and Stephen King as a film to pay homage to E.C. Comic books like Tales from the Crypt. So it makes perfect sense that the comic anthology adaptation of the series based on Greg Nicotero's Shudder series is returning for another volume. As with the first Vol, this upcoming series is filled with some of the biggest names in comics. Creepshow Volume 2 #1 kicks off with a trifecta of legendary industry talent. It features stories from Garth Ennis (Preacher, The Boys), Becky Cloonan (Wonder Woman, Batgirls, Razorblades), and Phil Hester (Gotham City: Year One). If you are a fan of anthologies and Creepshow, make sure you grab this issue and Vol. 1 at your local comic shop! The Alternates - September 13th Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Writer: Patton Oswalt, Jordan Blum, Tim Seeley Artist: Christopher Mitten, Tess Fowler Colorist: Ian Herring for Christopher Mitten, Tess Fowler Letterer: Nate Piekos of BLAMBOT Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum are two Hollywood writers whose nerdiness knows no bounds, as exemplified in their Hulu show Marvel's M.O.D.O.K.. But after the series ended, they created their own comic book world with Minor Threats. After the success of Minor Threats, the world has expanded into a book with horror comic superstar Tim Seeley(Hack/Slash, Revival, Nightwing). The Alternates is a love letter to the Vertigo comics of the '90s. Vertigo was an imprint where DC Comics allowed writers like Grant Morrison and Neil Gaiman to bring very different and often scary versions of heroes and villains to the page. These stories tackled big topics like addiction, identity, and more. The Alternates follows in those footsteps by bringing us the weird monster characters of the Minor Threats universe and showing us what happens to them after those groundbreaking stories they had to live through. The main character is named Mary Marie, the Multi-Monster who can shapeshift her body parts into different monsters like Dracula and Wolfman. It explores those horrific heroes who don't get to exist like Superman or Batman, in the same vein as Doom Patrol. It is definitely worth picking up even if you haven't read Minor Threats yet because it could fully stand alone. Stuff of Nightmares: Red Murder - September 27th Publisher: BOOM! Studios Writer: R.L. Stine Artist: Adam Gorham Colorist: Francesco Segala Letterer: Jim Campbell Being that I am in my early '30s, I could probably pitch this to most people my age on the author alone. R.L. Stine is a name that is burned into so many horror fans' hearts and minds because he is one of the biggest voices that helped usher horror to younger audiences with his Goosebumps series. I am one of those people, so learning we are getting another installment of Stuff of Nightmares with the new story "Red Murder" has me as giddy as when I first bought Goosebumps. Stuff of Nightmares: Red Murder follows a comic creator who fell into obscurity, but during the 20th anniversary of his most famous book, Red Murder, murders parallel to the killings in his book start to chop down real victims. The book is illustrated by Adam Gorham (Darth Vader, Blue Flame), the textured and gritty art style is bound to make this one that sticks in your brain for some time after closing the final pages. Project Cryptid #1 - Ahoy Comics House of Slaughter #17 - Boom! Studios Werewolf by Night #1 - Marvel Comics Dark Ride #8 - Skybound/Image Comics Spine-Tingling Spider-Man #0 - Marvel Comics Door to Door Night by Night #7 - Vault Comics The Sickness #2 - Uncivilized Books Project Rise #2 - Mad Cave Studios Something is Killing the Children #33 - BOOM! Studios Dark X-Men #2 - Marvel Comics Grim #13 - BOOM! Studios Predator vsWolverine #1 - Marvel Comics Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Stranger Things #3 - IDW Publishing Monomyth #5 - Mad Cave Comics What's the Furthest Place From Here? #14 - Image Comics The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #4 - Dark Horse Comics Dead by Daylight #3 - Titan Books

There’s definitely a ‘Squatch in these woods, at least for players willing to bet big enough to draw out the famous cryptid. The Legend of Bigfoot offers a potentially huge payday for players who are lucky enough to follow Bigfoot’s trail deep into the woodland setting. Barcrest and SG Digital offer another fine slot machine with a big bonus round, a big bet high stakes option and some special surprise features. The long journey isn’t always fun though, and players should be ready to give up a few creature comforts. Unfortunately, The Legend of Bigfoot is not an especially good-looking slot machine. It’s still competent, but it’s lacking a lot of polish that might be expected. The game features a nice enough background of some dense woods, along with a 3D animated Bigfoot that wanders in for certain special features. The game starts to slip when it comes to symbols though. While it uses some generic “A, K, Q and J” symbols, these are actually some of the better-designed pieces. Each one is bright and colorful with a wood-like texture to it. The higher value symbols are far worse. They appear to just be copy and pasted stock images of beavers, raccoons, eagles, moose, wolves and mountain lions. It’s odd that the higher-value symbols are so disappointing and underdeveloped. In general, the game seems to be missing some of the finishing touches that would really complete the experience. Winning paylines have cute dancing animations for the letters, but the higher-value animals tend to just flash in place. The big win cinematics are just generic fireworks. The special animations for when a Bigfoot feature triggers or a Bigfoot bonus hits are well done, but the gaps for the normal game really stand out. The sound design is also a little rough. While the soundtrack is a fairly nice banjo and country music mix, the sound effects are odd. The chimes and bells for winning paylines are okay, if a little generic, but the reels settle into place with loud clicking noises that are downright distracting. These little flaws poke some holes in the experience and make playing for a long session a little less fun. The Legend of Bigfoot is a 5-reel online slot machine, with a variable number of paylines. Players who bet less than 2.00 credits only get to play on 10 paylines. A 1.00 credit is a 0.10 line bet on 10 lines. Players who bet at least 2.00 credits get to play on 20 paylines. A 2.00 bet is a 0.10 line bet on 20 lines. This comes with a matching change in RTP. Players who bet less than 2.00 only have a 94% RTP, while it goes up to 96% for 2.00 and higher bets. All paylines have to start on the leftmost reel and run to the right. The majority of normal spins are uneventful with no special features, and there are no natural wild symbols in the base game. Occasionally, Bigfoot sightings can trigger and spice up the game though. Bigfoot can show up after any spin and decide to help flip things around. There are 5 potential special features that can trigger during a Bigfoot sighting. Bigfoot can swap any symbol on the reels to turn a losing spin into a winner. Bigfoot can shake the entire game board to cause random wild symbols to appear and potentially trigger new wins. Occasionally, Bigfoot will also show up to shake the entire game and change the 2nd and 4th reels into completely wild reels for that spin. The final two features help with triggering the bonus game and will be covered later. The Bigfoot sightings are obviously the main excitement for players on the normal slots. Unfortunately, the advantage to betting at least 2.00 credits a spin is so great that it’s basically required. This means that bankrolls can drain fast, especially since normal spins can go quickly and there aren’t that many ways to catch back up after a cold streak. The highest payout is only 25x the total bet for 5 of the mountain lion. Most payouts are going to be 25% wins from getting 3 card symbols, although these do occasionally add up quickly on lucky spins. Getting lucky with wild reels or random wilds is the main way to hang on in the basic game. The main goal is to just survive until the bonus round triggers because it’s hiding most of the money. The Bonus Game During any normal spin, players can trigger the bonus round by getting a Bigfoot bonus symbol in the 1st, 3rd and 5th reels. It is also possible to trigger the bonus game through a little luck with the Bigfoot sightings. Players who get bonus symbols in the 1st and 3rd reels can potentially trigger a Bigfoot respin last reel, which gives them a second chance to get another bonus symbol. There’s also the general Bigfoot respin reels feature. This counts up the bonus symbols on the reels and sets them aside. Bigfoot then spins the reels again and any new bonus symbols will add onto the existing counter and potentially trigger the game. The bonus game is a fairly involved set of stages, built around following Bigfoot’s trail. The beginning is fairly simple. Players start at level 1 on the trail, which gives them 8 free spins and 2 random wilds that appear at the end of every spin. The wilds are generally a nice addition that at least helps stack up some minor wins. The hook is that any bonus symbols that appear on the reels will go into the counter at the top of the screen. If players get 3 Bigfoot tracks before they run out of free spins, then they get to move up a level. Moving up a level locks any remaining free spins up, and starts an entirely new set on the new level. Reaching level 2 gives players 7 free spins, and 3 random wilds now appear for each spin. Again, if players can get another 3 bonus symbols before running out of free spins, they’ll go up another level. Until level 6, each new level gives players one fewer free spin, but one more random wild. Reaching level 6 keeps the player at 4 free spins but gives them a whopping 7 random wilds for a few very loaded free spins. The most important part of the bonus game is that running out of free spins at a higher level doesn’t automatically end the game. Running out of free spins simply makes the player lose 3 bonus symbols and fall down a level. If there are still free spins remaining at that level from when they first climbed up, they can continue playing and possibly trigger the next level again. The bonus round only ends when players have lost all of their free spins at every level in the game. This means that lucky players can get a lot of free spins that can up to a big payday. The Big Bet System As is common in Barcrest slot machines, there is a big bet system for players who are looking to pay a little more for boosted spins. In big bet mode, players pay a premium for a set of 5 spins at the 2.00 total bet paytable. The extra money goes toward extra features in the set of 5 spins. The bonus game can trigger normally in this set of 5 spins. Note that going to the bonus round doesn’t actually end the 5 spins. They will resume once the bonus game is done. The big bet system has a higher RTP of 98%, but with more money on the line the swings are obviously much worse. The 20.00 credit set of 5 just makes the Bigfoot sightings feature trigger more often. The 30.00 credit game keeps the more frequent Bigfoot sightings and modifies the Bigfoot bonus symbol to be 2-spaces high for the set. Note that it doesn’t count for two if both spaces show up in a spin, it still just counts for one. This does make it a little more likely that the bonus symbols will show up though. The 50.00 credit game extends this even further. Not only are the Bigfoot bonus symbols 2-spaces high in the 5 spins, but they stay 2-spaces in the bonus round. Again, one completely showing up doesn’t count for 2, but it does make it a little easier to get further along the trail. The End of the Trip Overall, The Legend of Bigfoot is a fairly fun free game that’s still a solid recommendation. It is only really meant for players comfortable with betting 2.00 credits a spin though, since there’s no reason to accept a 94% RTP just for some minor special features. The ideas are fun overall. The Bigfoot sightings are an exciting surprise for the main spins, and the bonus game can be really exciting. It’s also nice that the big bet feature feels a little less intrusive. It’s there for anyone looking for high roller play, but players can still see most of the special features with regular spins. It would be nice if the design was more polished, but being a little rough around the edges doesn’t hurt it too badly. It’s still a good option for some quick, exciting play.

The brush rushes - a flash of green and brown that rushes by in an instant - and then you hear it... a low growl, only feet from where you stand! Metazoo: Cryptid Nation's Wilderness expands on the world beyond the Veil, this time deep in the forests of Cryptid Nation. Bigfoot lurks behind the forest-line and the peaceful Cumberland Dragon roars on the Cliffside! Contract these Beasties with love, for they will be your greatest allies! Welcome to MetaZoo, a trading card game like no other, where the world's most intriguing cryptids, known as Beasties, come to life. With an incredibly diverse collection of folklore from around the world, players will immerse themselves in an adventure filled with magic, mystery, and danger. Form contracts with powerful Beasties and enlist them to fight by your side as you journey beyond the Veil and discover the secrets of the world. Payment & Security Your payment information is processed securely. We do not store credit card details nor have access to your credit card information.