Archive for the ‘cryptozoology’ category

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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?

Categories: anomalies, cryptozoology, furry, mysteries, strange, unexplained, unidentified

Comments: 4 Comments

The Lusca…

June 21, 2012

– – I think that the appeal of giant mollusks, cephalopods in particular, is that they are so non-mammalian as to be almost alien.  Add to that the reported immensity of the lusca with an 85-foot span, and you have something rather impressive.  

An old episode of Destination Truth (2009) got into the search for a lusca off the Island of Andros in the Bahamas.  “Blue Holes” exist there as openings to a maze of underwater tunnels, with caverns starting at a depth of about 140 feet and diving depths going to around 175 feet.  Chief investigator Josh Gates found area sea captains there reluctant to charter in search of what is essentially a giant octopus, so it became necessary to venture forth in their own boat.  Armed with a FLIR thermal imager, Josh went diving in the murky water and perceived something huge in one cavern that he explored; on the surface, a disturbance was likewise perceived in the water  near the expedition boat.

While nothing further came of the investigation than this, the point was made that the deep tunnels reported to be the lairs of the lusca have never been cataloged, and that such a creature could conceivably exist there…

Categories: animals, aquatic, cryptozoology, unexplained, unidentified
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“Touchdown” Snackin’ With Sasquatch Commercial…

June 15, 2012

– – In the past,  Jack Links Beef Jerky has regaled us with commercials featuring the legendary cryptid Sasquatch (aka, “Bigfoot”) in the “Messin’ With Sasquatch” series.  A common theme of these was jerky eaters  pulling sophomoric pranks on the big guy, for which the jokers would receive well-deserved and usually physical retaliation.  They’re still making these spots, as in one where the classic “snakes in a can” prank is pulled on Sasquatch; he retaliates by throwing an enormous real snake through the window of their camper in a clear case of what goes around, comes around!

Additionally, Carmichael Lynch now has a new “Snackin’ With Sasquatch” campaign out in which the former tormentors are now making nice with Sasquatch but still getting their lumps.  In the “Touchdown” spot, Sasquatch is actually sitting on a couch in the living room of two apparently twenty-something guys who are watching the big game.  When a touchdown occurs, the two guys enthusiastically jump to their feet and give a “bro” hug to one another.  Caught up in the spirit, the towering Sasquatch grabs one of the two guys and hoists him up; too bad that the ceiling isn’t high enough to accomodate this gesture!- – Feed your wild side!

Categories: absurdities, anthropomorphic, cryptozoology, furry, furry commercials, television
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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…

Categories: animals, anomalies, cryptozoology, mysteries, unexplained, unidentified
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Icelandic River Monster?

February 15, 2012

  – – A video reportedly showing an apparent subarctic anaconda snaking its way upstream through Iceland’s Jokulsa River as shot by a 67-year-old farmer has been subjected to an analysis in which the position of the monster’s head were matched up with relation to static reference points.  It was concluded that the “monster” was actually stuck in one place on the river, with moving water creating the illusion of a swimming snake.

The object is thought to be a fishing net or long piece of cloth caught on a branch or a rock lying beneath the surface of the water.  The serpentine shape is caused by chunks of ice hanging onto the net.

Iceland does have a legendary Lagafljot Worm, the Icelandic equivalent of the Loch Ness monster…but this was no Nessie cousin.

Categories: animals, anomalies, aquatic, cryptozoology, mysteries, strange
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Comments: 3 Comments

Yeti in Stride Gum Whitemint Commercial…

February 11, 2012

 – – With Stride gum packing long-lasting flavor, management has to take strong measures to get consumers to spit out their gum wad, take a new chew, and so grease the economic wheels.  They have devised ingenious ways of doing just that; past commercials have depicted rams butting customers, wrestlers squeezing the gum out of them, and German folk dancers slapping them chew-free.  Now, an even heavier hitter has been recruited; the legendary Yeti!

This isn’t your father’s abominable snowman, mind you, although he certainly is cool!  This Yeti enters a marketing meeting wearing a headband and earphones, and delivers a gut punch to one manager, physically forcing him to expel his gum.  A voiceover warns, “Spit it out.  Or Yeti will find you.”

Stride Whitemint gum is licensed by gold medalist snowboarder Shaun White, although I’d much rather meet the Yeti…

Categories: anthropomorphic, cryptozoology, famous furries, furry, furry commercials, strange, television
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Another Ogopogo Sighting?

November 11, 2011

 – – There are large, blurry, out-of-focus monsters out there stalking the landscape!  One is Ogopogo, Canada’s version of the Loch Ness Monster, sightings of which have been reported since at least the 19th century by thousands.- -Well, a man visiting British Columbia’s Lake Okanagan has recently filmed a 30-second video which shows…gasp!…two long ripples in the water in a seemingly deserted area of the lake!  The man making the video notes that what was shown in the footage was not a wave but was of a darker color, and that it did not move parallel with the waves.

Now Ogopogo is most commonly described as a 40- to 50-foot-long sea serpent, sometimes seen with humps, which is believed to have its origins in legends of native Canadian Indian folklore.  The name “ogopogo” originates from a 1924 English music hall song called, “The Ogo-Pogo:  The Funny Fox Trot,” an apparent disparaging reference to my dancing ability. Despite a number of high-tech searches of  Lake Okanagan by submarines and other underwater gadgets, no evidence of Ogopogo has ever been found.   Lake Okanagan does, however, have tens of thousands of  submerged logs floating just under its surface, and most sightings are attributed to misidentified logs or common animals such as otters.  So color me skeptical, but the notion of a residential monster is extremely cool…

Categories: animals, aquatic, cryptozoology, unexplained, unidentified
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Caddy, the Alaskan Nessie?

July 22, 2011

 – – There’s a monster in Alaska…and no, I do not speak of Sarah Palin!  I even dislike the term, “monster,” for its negative connotations.  But in the North Pacific a 2009 video captures a 20- to 30-foot long unknown creature.  The footage, black and white video, was taken by fishermen on a rainy day with (- -what else?) a shaky camera.  


One eyewitness, none less than Andy Hillstrand of the Deadliest Catch reality tv show, describes the creature as a “big, long white thing moving in the water.”  Spray came out of the creature’s head, and the fishermen chased it for twenty minutes.  Described as “definitely not a shark,” the cryptid was unlike anything that the men had seen before.  

This Nessie-like aquatic animal hails from the Cadboro Bay in British Columbia, and is accordingly called “Caddy” for short.  It is further described as having a long neck, a horse-like head, large eyes, and back bumps that stick out of the water.   No newcomer, reports of such a creature have circulated for 200 years.  In 1937, scientists thought that they might have uncovered physical evidence of  Caddy when what was thought to be a sea serpent was found inside the stomach of a whale. 


Alternative identities of the sightings have made mention of the Beluga whale, an oarfish, or a ribbon fish.  In any case, be wary of large, blurry monsters running rampant on the land and seas!  And would someone with a high-definition camera please get out there?!

Categories: animals, anomalies, cryptozoology, mysteries, strange, unexplained, weird

Comments: 4 Comments

Car Maulings in the Carolinas!

July 20, 2011

 – – Lizard Man is again running rampant in the Carolinas, and he’s rough on cars!  This bad boy has a nasty habit of biting, ripping, and pulling apart car fenders, hood ornaments, and radio antennas.- – Try calling bite marks in to your local insurance agent!

In an incident last week in a rural area of South Carolina, owners of a car discovered that their vehicle was riddled with what appeared to be teethmarks that went completely through the car’s fender.  Similar occurrences began in 1988 when a car mauling was reported, with the front fender on a car snapped in two and other pieces of chrome torn off.  Two years ago in a case similar to the original, a van was mauled by something biting through the metal and bending the fenders. 

A teenage eyewitness in 1988 reported an encounter with a creature about seven feet tall that had red eyes and three-fingered hands;  the young man came from a responsible, respectable family, and passed a polygraph test about the incident in which the scaly cryptid ran towards him following a tire change and jumped upon his moving car before being thrown off.   He has never changed his story…

Perhaps this car-biter is suffering from a serious deficiency of iron in his diet…and should we call in the Car Fox?

Categories: cryptozoology, scalies, strange happenings, unexplained, unidentified, weird
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“Bigfoot” Hair and Oil Samples to Undergo DNA Testing…

June 25, 2011

  – –  Samples of hair hoped or thought to be from a Bigfoot have yielded disappointing results in the past few years when subjected to scientific analysis; some have been found to be from a bison, others from a humble opossum.  Here we go again with hair and oil samples left on a pickup truck in California’s Sierra National Forest over Memorial Day!   Dirt and oil impressions left on the passenger side window may be from a Bigfoot, or they may be bear slobber and snot; a twelve-inch footprint was also found at the site.  An even larger creature left impressions on the driver’s side window which included prints of a nose, eyes, and lips…the lips measuring about six inches long.

Friends of the pickup truck’s owner who have observed the evidence include a former science teacher and a correctional officer.   They doubt that a bear was responsible for the intrusion as none of four ice chests filled with food in the back of the truck had been touched.  DNA samples collected by a forensic expert may eventually shed light on the identity of the unknown intruder, although if the sample comes back having tested as near human or primate, it could match both Bigfoot and a homeless person…

Categories: cryptozoology, mysteries, strange happenings, unexplained, unidentified
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