Archive for the ‘anomalies’ category

“Sheepsquatch”

April 30, 2013

sheepsquatch– – Mysterious shadows, screams in the night, hairy hominids, and a hair-raising sense that something is watching me…these are a few of my favorite things!  Few cryptic creatures are as laughably strange, however, as is the Sheepsquatch, a crossover between mutton and man reported throughout West Virginia and in the southwestern region of Virginia. 

Also known as “the white thing,” Sheepsquatch is described as a goat-faced, ram-horned Bigfoot clone that’s about the size of a bear with completely white, wool-like fur.  The head is long and pointed like a dog’s, sporting long saber-like teeth.  The creature has horns like those of a young goat, which some observers have mistaken for a second set of eyes.  Curiously, the front limbs of Sheepsquatch are reported to end in paw-like hands, similar to those of a raccoon but larger.  Bringing up the rear is a long and hairless tail.  As a topper, this “sheep that’s gone savage” is reported to smell like sulfur!  No wonder it’s elusive…

Odd Folks Home…

March 16, 2013

Edgar

– – The aptly-named reality show Odd Folks Home is a spin-off of the Science Channel show, Oddities.  It tends to feature the most eccentric clients of the Obscura Antiques and Oddities store showcased in the parent show, and viewers are taken into the homes of these people to see their private collections and practices.  Many of these individuals would be at home residing with the Addams Family; there are sword swallowers and fire eaters, and artists who work in such mediums as skulls, animal parts, and human blood.  These people would be fun dates, and indeed one lady screens her men by taking them home to see how they handle such tasks as articulating a cat skeleton.

The show has the perfect host in Edgar Oliver (pictured), a real-life playwright and actor who takes creepiness to an art form.  On the Oddities show, we see him in a state of near ecstasy over the discovery of a straightjacket.  “Are you sitting…comfortably?,”  inquires Edgar of the listening audience on some episodes of Odd Folks, with the perfect facial expressions and hand gestures.- -This guy is a treasure!

You can learn much about the morbid and macabre from this show, and for that reason it’s probably not suitable for young children or the squeamish.  As for me, however, I’m right at home in the Odd Folks Home…

Monkeying Around on the Syfy Channel…

March 10, 2013

Flying Monkeys– – To me, they looked more demonic than simian, but that was perhaps the point.  The Flying Monkeys on the Syfy movie of the same name which aired on March 9th were evil, shape-shifting monsters, pets by day and killers by night.  Unrelated but with a number of shameless nods to the Oz saga (the movie’s even set in Gale, Kansas), these are nasty, flying beasties that swoop down to shred and tear…something to “get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!” – -Shameless but captivating low-budget entertainment, and as much fun as a barrel of flying monkeys!  Just click your heels together while repeating, “There’s no place like the Syfy Channel!

The Petrified Cat Market…

February 15, 2013

Oddities– – It’s hard to find a good petrified cat; most are dried out and decayed, and don’t smell very good.  There are aesthetics to be considered when buying a petrified cat, or for that matter, a mummified squirrel; not just any one will do!

Enter the bizarre world of macabre memorabilia as presented through the Science Channel and the Discovery Channel documentary/reality show Oddities, which details the operations of Obscura Antiques & Oddities as they go about procuring oddball items like deformed skeletons, skulls, child-sized straitjackets, and archaic medical items for eager clients.  –Remember that one man’s trash is another’s treasure, and that there’s a market for almost everything in this world! 

The show debuted in 2010, and is now in it’s fourth season.  Operating out of the East Village in New York City (–where else?), the business has been overwhelmed by people trying to sell petrified cats and mummified squirrels that they found in their attics, and as a result is no longer in the market for them.  It’s hardly your grandmother’s antique shop…this is far more interesting!

 

Bigfoot a Hybrid?

November 30, 2012

– – A prominent veterinarian is contending that Bigfoot exists, and is part human!  A five-year DNA study by DNA Diagnostics, a team of scientists in Texas chaired by Dr. Melba S. Ketchum, sequenced purported samples of Bigfoot DNA, finding that mitochondrial DNA, which is maternally inherited, is identical to human mitochondrial DNA.  Nuclear DNA samples, containing genetic material from both parents, appeared to involve a “novel, unknown hominin related to Homo sapiens and other primate species.”

Bigfoot may accordingly be a human relative whose origins can be traced to about 15,000 years ago when human females are hypothesized to have mated with males of an unknown primate species, according to the research.   On the other hand, the DNA samples may be contaminated, and many questions about the samples remain unanswered.  The study has not yet gone through the peer review process, and accordingly has no credibility in the scientific community at present… 

 

New Loch Ness Monster Photo?

August 17, 2012

– – I would be ever so happy if definitive, verifiable proof of any of the major cryptids were found during my lifetime that I could die happy!  Certainly the Loch Ness Monster is one of the major players in this field, with George Edwards recently submitting a new picture alleged to be the elusive creature.  Now Edwards, a sixty-year-old Scottish sailor, spends about 60 hours a week on the loch, providing tours on his boat, the Nessie Hunter IV.  He has been searching for the Loch Ness Monster for the past 26 years.  

The image is regarded by most skeptics to be a large sturgeon, although it appears to lack a serrated spine like the sturgeon.  Unfortunately, there is nothing in the picture to measure size against, such as a building or island in the background.  The photo, captured by Edwards towards the end of last year, is believed by him to show the back of one of the creatures…

The Ozark Howler

July 25, 2012

– – The Ozark Howler sounds like a really bad country music act, but refers to a cat-like cryptid reputed to reside in remote areas of Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas.  Said to be the size of a black bear, it boasts a thick body, black hair, glowing eyes, and perhaps horns from its forehead!  The Howler is reputed to stand three to four feet tall at the  shoulder, and weighs in at about 400 pounds.  The creature makes a deafening aggressive, threatening scream that is kind of a combination of a wolf’s howl and an elk’s cry…

A search for the Ozark Howler was detailed on an episode of Haunted Highway in which two investigators went to Jasper County in Arkansas, where initially a local cop was interviewed who attached some credibility to the story,  saying that he had heard the creature.  The investigators then went hiking in the woods near Wallpac, where they set up thermal cameras and meat bait, complete with a GPS in the bait.  Eerie, high-pitched cries were heard.  Later, the bait was taken but unfortunately the camera was knocked over.  The GPS had been displaced from the bait, and tooth marks were found on the GPS.  Paw prints were found nearby of which a cast was taken.  Lastly, a non-revealing thermal image was captured on another camera.

All of this was taken to a biologist, who said that he could believe that the creature detected might have been an escaped puma or another kind of large feral cat.  Predictably inconclusive, the episode summarized that there was something out there in the Arkansas woods that was “large and hungry.”- -What could be truer, or safer to say?

The Virgin, Or Knot?

July 15, 2012

– – We’ve posted before on how people have seen both religious and secular notables in mundane objects, including visions of Jesus, Mary, and Elvis on interior and exterior walls and even food substances, including burnt bacon and a cheese sandwich.- -Well, in one of the latest sightings, a gnarl in the bark of a tree in West New York has been found to resemble the Virgin Mary. 

The tree has attracted hundred of visitors since its discovery on July 10th, so many in fact that the police have found it necessary to section off the tree with barricades.  The site has become a shrine with the tree surrounded by flowers and burning candles. 

There is that tendency in the human mind to seek meaningful patterns in randomness or ambiguous stimuli, in the same manner that faces and objects may be seen in passing clouds.  The phenomenon is of course natural, but  belief and culture are what gives a perceived symbol meaning…

Idaho Bigfoot?

June 1, 2012

– – A group of high school students on a class project in the Idaho wilderness captured a dark, mysterious creature on a short video taken near Mink Creek before the unknown creature retreated into the treeline.  The student who captured the video described the thing sighted as “big and bulky and black,” but not as appearing human-like and not looking like a bear or moose.  The footage of course is blurred and out of focus…

The students also climbed to where they saw the potential Bigfoot and photographed large footprints that it left in the dirt.   The video footage and image of the large footprint was taken by a local news station to Sasquatch expert Jeff Meldrum at Idaho State University, who said the large, dark figure portrayed bears resemblance to descriptions of Sasquatch.  Anatomist Trent Stephens said that the beast resembled that seen in the 1967 classic Patterson film taken in California. 

The Animal Planet show “Finding Bigfoot” will visit Pocatello, Idaho next month to investigate claims that Bigfoot could be in the area…

Mythic Mayhem!

March 29, 2012

— It’s not easy being a demigod; everyone expects great things out of you!  Pity poor Perseus; as if whipping the Kraken wasn’t enough in 2010’s Clash of the Titans, now he has to beat a whole host of other assorted monsters in Wrath of the Titans.  There will be a slew of them to boot in this special effects extravaganza, everything from a thirty-foot high Cyclops to a Minotaur to my personal fave, a Chimera…I just like things with multiple heads and incongruous parts that spew fire, that’s the way I roll!  Mighty Kronos himself enters the fray,  just dripping with lava…what more could a boy want?  Yes, I know, robots, zombies, mummies, aliens, and werewolves are extremely cool too, but you can’t have them all in the same movie and preserve artistic integrity.- -Besides, I’d die of too much happiness!

While most of the beasties are computer generated, the Minotaur is played by an actor in a latex suit who underwent four hours of makeup for each day on the set!   You’ll also see Perseus’ noble winged steed Pegasus, and the demonic Makhai, who attack like whirling dervishes.  

This isn’t Shakespeare, but it’s good guy fun…and what’s wrong with that?  Wrath of the Titans opens March 30th…and it’s a cornucopia of creatures!!!– -Woo-hoo!