CFZ-CANADA

Danger in the Field

2012-02-22T15:40:00.000-08:00

Those of us who do field work are often subjected to interesting situations; sometimes even dangerous ones. Too often, the dangers are not anticipated. In fact, sometimes the dangers don't even make sense. This is the case with the recent death of Jeff Rice and injury to Catherine Fuller. While not "cryptozoologists", these two certainly qualify as field researchers.

You may have heard of Jeff and Catherine because of their ties to "Destination Truth", a popular SyFy Channel/SPACE Canada series hosted by Josh Gates. Josh and crew take on lots of things paranormal and exciting, often exploring cyrptozoological topics.Jeff and Catherine were "facilitators". These are the people who make the onsite stuff possible. They coordinate local sites, talent, permissions, equipment, and all manor of tidbits that allow shows like this to be filmed on location. Last week the pair were in Uganda and were apparently attacked in their hotel room and poisoned with ingested cocaine. Details are still coming in. This highlights, though, a certain need for caution when working in the field--in any capacity, but certainly in the jungles and woods of foreign lands.

Generally, cryptids do not make themselves available in the researcher's home town. Investigating them may mean travel and finding accommodations. Often the travel is to countries that have a level of unrest that would make it dangerous to go there. The Canadian government (and most other governments) publish a list of countries they feel might be dangerous. Some top crypto destinations are on Canada's list. Burma (Myanmar) has a recent primate sighting that may be new and the Canadian government rates travel there as a high risk because of civil unrest. China, Indonesia, Kenya, Russia, and Thailand all have warnings on Canadian travel. Non-essential travel to Burundi, home of the giant man-eating crocodile, is highly discouraged.

There are, however, more mundane dangers in the field. None of us should go "in search of" without a few basics. Here's a short list, and if you have additional safety items to suggest please list them in the comments.

Elastic Bandages-sprains happen
Snake bite kit-unless of course you are going to Ireland or Hawaii
Afterbite-because cryptomosquitos can be nasty
Antihistamines-it's hard to focus when your eyes are watery
Various size wound dressings-for ouchies
Antibiotic Ointment
Water
Nutrition bars
Cold packs
Scissors
needle and thread--because in an emergency, more than your pants might need a stitch
matches/lighter
aspirin/tylenol

You should already be carrying these items in your investigative kit, but here are some first aid uses:
non-latex gloves-in addition to helping keep things clean, these can be tied together for a tourniquet
long nosed tweezers-for stingers and splinters
tongue depressors-for splints
tape
sunscreen
Short wave or CB radio or cell phone (if there is service!)

Granted these things probably won't help you in a war zone. Heed the travel cautions. Arm yourself with extensive knowledge about where you are going. Get permission from the land owner or government before you set foot on someone's property or camp in a park.

Common sense may not have saved Jeff Rice's life, but it just might save yours or the life of a member of your team.

http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/rice-obit/
http://www.syfy.com/destinationtruth/
http://www.voyage.gc.ca/countries_pays/menu-eng.asp
http://forteanzoology.blogspot.com/2009/03/more-on-man-eater-from-burundi.html
http://www.the-fitness-motivator.com/field-first-aid.html

Caddy Debunked?

2012-02-19T11:02:00.000-08:00

Most Canadians (and Cryptogeeks worldwide) are familiar withVancouver’s Cadborosaurus. It was namedafter Cadboro Bay on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. A classic sea serpent, Caddy is said to havea horse-like head, a flowing mane on a long curved neck, and a long thingsnake-ish body that reveals several loops above the surf.

The website skeptic.com claims that it first surfaced in1933, “the same year the Loch Ness monster became world famous.” The website credits editor Archie Wills, ofthe Victoria Daily times, as the person who invented Caddy. According to skeptics, he was looking todistract readers from tense subjects like the depression and Hitler. Archie was the City Editor at that time(1928-1936). This claim is uncited, andI have been unable to find a reputable source for this item.

Ed Bousfield and Paul LeBlond have researched Caddy for over20 years. They have recommended that Caddyanimals be classified as Caborosaurus willsi in accordance with the rules ofInternational Code of Zoological Nomenclature in honor of Wills. They state that he “devoted many columninches to the creature and vigorously amassed a myriad sighting reports of thecreature's activities”.

Who to believe? Respected scientists Bousefield and LeBlond or noted skepdebunkers fromskeptic.com seem to have different opinions. The answer is simple. To debunkthe claim that Archie Wills invented the Cadborosaurus we simply need to show asighting report prior to 1933. He mayindeed have invented the NAME “Cadborosaurus” but did he invent the creature asthe skeptics suggest?

It seems unlikely that Archie in fact “invented” themonster. On his way to Greenland in July6 of the year 1734, Norwegian missionary Hans Egede reported that he saw"a very terrible sea-animal which raised itself above the water." Thissighting is often considered one of the first “Caddy sightings” but in factthis one occurred off the shore of Greenland, nowhere near Vancouver Island. In an article in Raincoast Chronicles, journalist Howard Wright recounts Hubert Evans’ 1932 sighting. More compelling, however, are petroglyphsfrom the area depicting what appear to be sea monsters. Natives refer to this creature as a “sea wolf”or Haida. The descriptions are verysimilar. Mr. Wills did not invent those.

As for the skeptic reference to the “Loch Ness Monster”,they again skew the facts, presumably to support their agenda ofnonbelief. The first documented sightingat Loch Ness was in 565 AD. Whatoccurred in 1933 was the first modern sighting, attributed to a Mr. and Mrs.Spicer, who wrote of the thing in a letter. The first photograph of Nessie did not happen until 1934. Sightings increased after 1933 not becauseNessie first appeared, but rather because that is when the first road was builtand more people came to the area. While the skeptics may be technically correctthat Nessie became known worldwide sometime in the August 1933-November 1934range, it was well known among the locals for centuries prior.

Regardless of when the term was coined or the firstsightings took place, Caddy continues to be spotted in BC waters. In fact, there have been more than 300sightings in the last 200 years. We arecurrently in “Caddy Watching Season (October to April) so perhaps someone willsend us a current report.

http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/2011/images/11-12-21/5-cryptids-2011-print-res.pdf

http://www.unknown-creatures.com/cadborosaurus.html

http://bcscc.ca/cadborosaurus.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Egede

http://gvpl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1409037041_raincoast_chronicles

http://seamonster.org/

http://rockartblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/unlikely-at-best-cadborosaurus.html

http://ask.yahoo.com/20030929.html

http://www.nessie.co.uk/htm/searching_for_nessie/search.html

http://www.loch-ness-monster-nessieland.com/loch-ness-monster-facts.shtml

http://northstudio.net/archive/OakBayTourism/cadborosaurus/index.htm

http://blogs.theprovince.com/2012/01/22/caddys-coast/

On Being a "Cryptozoologist"

2012-02-12T19:25:00.000-08:00

It's not rocket science, that's for sure. It isn't pseudoscience either, at least as far as I'm concerned. Lately though, I've been asking myself "What exactly is a Cryptozoologist and why do people think I am one?"

Lately this blog has been getting comments from notables like Loren Coleman, Dale Drinnon, and Dr. Karl Shuker. This is very humbling and not a little distressing. I never intended to be a Cryptozoologist, nor do I consider myself any sort of authority on mystery animals. What I am is a student. I take the study very seriously, and although I may not always get everything "right", I do a LOT of research and try to present interesting topics in a fair and balanced way. As a Southern Girl, this isn't always easy, as, and my colleagues will definitely agree, I am an extremely opinionated person! I have strong beliefs about what some of these creatures are. I am, however, smart enough to know I'm not the final answer to what's out there. I study Cryptids. I learn every day.

That, in a nutshell, is what makes me a Cryptozoologist. By its simple etymology, the word "cryptozoology" is the study of unknown animals; and those who participate in cryptozoology are, by definition, cryptozoologists. We are also biologists, theorists, historians, archaeologists, zoologists, and so much more. We are these things because we study, not because we make discoveries or prove theories. Sometimes those things do happen, but cryptozoology is simply a study. I am sort of a fifth grade student. I have been diligently studying unknown animals for about five years. I also happen to have seen what I believe to be "mothman" and have done fieldwork in West Virginia, Ohio, New Jersey, and Ontario. I did/do this not as a PhD or scholar. I do consider myself a scientist.

The title "scientist" is another controversial one in the studies of things paranormal. In The Journal of Theoretics, science is defined as the "the field of study which attempts to describe and understand the nature of the universe in whole or part." The definition does not suggest one must be learned, or respected, or lettered. Science only requires study. Anyone can be a scientist. Most of us are, every day, in some form. Most people are not scientists with an agenda of being "noted" or "famous". Most are just curious individuals who like to research and learn. I am one of those people.

How can Cryptozoology, then, be a "pseudoscience"? This would imply that those of us who study cryptids aren't really studying, but pretending to study. None of my colleagues in this field sit in laboratories, forests, or libraries listening to iPods with a comic tucked into a textbook. We are really looking, really learning, and really trying to understand and document all of the oddities around us. I would also assert that pseudo-skeptics are also cryptozoologists when they try to disprove the existence of such oddities. After all, something must be studied to be debunked. This is where the "pseudoscience" label fails.

We must be papered, lettered, and recognized before our study and research has any value, just like some of the most revered scientists of the past, right? Wrong. Aristotle was a philosopher yet he set the stage for what would eventually develop into the scientific method centuries later. Charles Darwin failed miserably in learning medicine (at age 16, no less) and attended Cambridge at a time when there was no degree in the natural sciences. Thomas Alva Edison quit school in 1859, at the age of 12, yet is considered one of the foremost scientists of modern time. Sir Isaac Newton, the epitome of a scientist, made many of his discoveries well before earning his Bachelors Degree in 1665. In fact, in his own lifetime, Newton wrote more on religion than he did on natural science. He also devoted a great deal of time to alchemy.

I don't aspire to be in the same realm as the geniuses above, including our modern Cryptozoologists. I have enjoyed a modicum of notoriety in the field and am publishing not only here on the blog and other online outlets, but also in print books (most of which are still in process). I am regularly asked to be interviewed on various cryptid topics as well as haunting phenomena. These are honors I am always surprised to receive as I truly consider myself simply a student. One of the things I have learned is that I do in fact "deserve" to wear the title "Cryptozoologist"--as do you, if you are a student of mystery animals. I wear it proudly, but not arrogantly. I'll leave arrogance to those who decry why I devote myself to as "pseudoscience" and declare that we, as a group, are not "credible".

This from Loren Coleman says it all, "Being a cryptozoologist is to be a modern adventurer..."

http://www.journaloftheoretics.com/editorials/vol-1/e1-3.htm
http://www.crystalinks.com/newton.html
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110218014126AAE7BRJ
http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/cz-career/

Underwater Mystery Cat

2012-02-05T18:13:00.000-08:00

Native North Americans have a long tradition of storiesregarding the Mishibizhiw, an underwater panther. Some tribes, particularly Anishinaabe, Odawa,Ojibwe, and Potawatomi, of the Great Lakes region of Canada consider this beingas the most powerful underworld being. The Ojibwe held them to be the master of all water creatures. Some myths include this water lynx in their creationlegends.

In the Ojibwe language, this creature is called"Mishibizhiw", "Mishipizhiw", "Mishipizheu","Mishupishu", "Mishepishu", "Michipeshu", or"Mishibijiw", which translates as "Great Lynx," orGichi-anami'e-bizhiw ("Gitche-anahmi-bezheu"), which translates as"the fabulous night panther." Often, it is referred to as the "Great underground wildcat" or"Great under-water wildcat." In Lake Superior Provincial Park on Ontario, there are pictographs of amishibizhiw and two giant serpents. These creatures were described as water monsters that live in oppositionto the Thunderbirds which are masters of the powers of the air.

With the body of a cat, usually like a lynx and the horns ofa deer, it also sports scales on it’s back and sometimes even bird feathers. They typically are sporting long tails. Like many other creatures in native lore, itis said to be a shape shifter. It issaid they roar or hiss like the sound of rushing water. Mishipizheu were saidto live in the deepest lakes and rivers and can cause storms. Other traditions claim they can sometimes behelpful and protective, but generally they are viewed as bringing death orother misfortune. Traditionally,offerings are made to help with safe passage across the water.

"While skirting some rocks, which by their height andlength inspire awe, we saw upon one of them two painted monsters which at firstmade us afraid, and upon which the boldest savages dare not long rest theireyes. They are as large as a calf: they have horns on their heads like those ofa deer, a horrible look, red eyes, a beard like a tiger's, a face somewhat likea man's, a body covered with scales, and so long a tail that it winds allaround the body, passing above the head and going back between the legs, endingin a fish's tail."
—French missionary Jacques Marquette, 1637

It was a widely held belief that copper came from thecreature and charms were made to bring luck to hunters. After the hunt, these charms would be destroyed. Native Canadian preferred guns with brass platesdepicting European dragons; they likely were interpreted to be images ofMishepishu. An Anishnaabe Ojibwa club from around 1800 has a Mishepishu figureon the end closest to the blade. In 2011, one of the Canadian Mint Mythical Creaturescoins depicted a Mishepishu. TheCanadian Museum of Civilization includes an underwater panther in its coat ofarms. While often depicted in bothancient and modern art, modern sightings are virtually nonexistant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_panther

http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/mishepishu/

http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/mythiccreatures/water/myths.php

http://www.songofthepaddle.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?30338-Mishepishu-A-Wizard-Magik-.....and-bugs

What Lies Within

2012-01-29T13:46:00.000-08:00

Very regularly, interesting artifacts of long gone animalsare being rediscovered across the globe-hiding in the fossil collections of ourmuseums. Back in 2009, scientists (specifically paleontologists) documented a “new”animal hiding in storage at the ROM, Canada’s Royal Ontario Museum.

The 500-million-year-old hurdiavictoria, a sea creature, was initially recovered from Yoho National Park,near Field, B.C. by American paleontologist Charles Walcott in 1909. Included in the find was a mysterious carapace(upper part of the exoskeleton) which Walcott recognized as that of a crustacean. The fossils were eventually packed up andshipped to the ROM, where they floundered for quite some time.

Some parts of the remains were misidentified. The mouth section was thought to be a wholejellyfish. Another piece was initiallyidentified as a sea cucumber. Walcotttried to identify the fossils by comparing them to known species, especiallyliving ones. By the time Walcott was 74,he had recovered over 65,000 specimens from the Burgess Shale, a vast fossilfield in the Rocky Mountains of BC. Theshale holds fossils of things that lived about 500,000,000 year ago in the MiddleCambrian period and are excellent specimens. The Burgess Shale once lay beneath the sea deeply enough so as to not bedisturbed by waves of storms, buried beneath mud flows off the CathedralEscarpment. This enabled preservation ofsoft tissue because the mud insulated the remains from decay.

Walcott’s misidentification remained intact until the 1960’s. Alberto Simonetta, an Italian paleontologist,reinvestigated the Burgess Shale and was able to convince the scientificcommunity that there were many more artifacts, and that Walcott’sidentifications were incorrect. HarryBlackmore Whittington, with the help of research students Derek Briggs andSimon Conway Morris of the University of Cambridge, reassessed the deposits andrevealed that the fauna represented were much more diverse than Walcott hadrecognized. Many of the animals presenthad bizarre anatomical features. Some ofthe new animals were the Opabinia, with five eyes and a snout like a vacuumcleaner hose and the Hallucigenia, which walked on bilateral spines.

In the 1980s, the ROM discovered more complete examples ofthe hurdia victoria body. In 2009, a hundred years after the first discovery, aCanadian PhD student named Allison Daley put together the various pieces andfinally revealed the actual shape. Dr. Daley is currently a post-doctorateresearcher at the Palaeontology Department of the British Natural HistoryMuseum.

Hurdia was one of the largest organisms in the Cambrianoceans, reaching approximately 50 cm in length. It had a pair of spiny claws onits head and a mouth like a pineapple ring. A hollow, spike-shaped shellprotruded from the front of its head but the function of this organ is unknown.The shell is empty and does not cover or protect the rest of the body. Largegills were suspended from the sides of the body on lateral lobes. This animal was an important link in theevolution of arthropods (animals with jointed legs- crustaceans, butterflies, spidersand other insects) and their diet of beings that would evolve intomammals.

UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific andCultural Organization) and Parks Canada designated the Burgess Shale asculturally and scientifically important. This made it more difficult for scientists to quarry the fossils, but TheBurgess Shale Geoscience Foundation and the ROM do have ongoing sites. Even now samples come in faster than they canbe identified and catalogued.

The story of the hurdia victoria underscores the vast amountof information we have yet to understand. Buried deep within not only fossil beds, but also museum storage, may bemany answers to cataloguing and identifying some of the mysterious animalsreported in modern times.

新年快乐 (Happy New Year)

2012-01-23T09:45:00.000-08:00

January 23, 2012 begins theChinese `Year of the Dragon``. In theChinese 12 year cycle of zodiac years, the dragon is the only animal that is legendary—allof the other icons are known, and rather benign, animals and birds. Additionally, this is the year of the WaterDragon.

A legend explains the sequence inwhich the animals were assigned. Supposedly, the 12 animals fought over theprecedence of the animals in the cycle of years in the calendar, so the Chinesegods held a contest to determine the order. All the animals lined up on thebank of a river and were given the task of getting to the opposite shore. Theirorder in the calendar would be set by the order in which the animals managed toreach the other side. The dragon came in fifth, so is fifth in the 12 yearcycle.

Dragon – 龍 / 龙 (辰)(Yang, 1st Trine, Fixed Element Wood): Magnanimous, stately, vigorous, strong,self-assured, proud, noble, direct, dignified, eccentric, intellectual, fiery,passionate, decisive, pioneering, artistic, generous, loyal. Can be tactless,arrogant, imperious, tyrannical, demanding, intolerant, dogmatic, violent,impetuous, brash.

In Chinese mythology andfolklore, there are many dragon tales. About 5,000 years ago, when tribes were fighting one another. The tribeof the Yellow Emperor fought and won wars over other tribes and combined thetotems, including the phoenix, the lion, the snake, the scorpion and the tiger,to form the dragon totem. "So that's why when you look at the dragonclaws, they are like claws of the lions and tigers mixed. The tail is almostlike a scorpion. The body is like a snake being flexible … and the head wouldbe just like the big lion head," says Paul Ng, a feng shui master inRichmond Hill, Ontario. "In other words, they combined totems of manypowerful animals into one that flies like the fiery bird, the phoenix. It'squite a mixed basket. It incorporates the most powerful things of all kinds ofcreatures into one. That's why people love it, because if you're a dragon,you're everything." This belief isso prevalent that many Asians try to be married or have a child during dragonyears

Chinese water dragons beganpicking up momentum as pets about 1995. Theyoriginate from southern China, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia. Over the yearsthere has been an increase in captive breeding by private owners. If they are well taken care of, green waterdragons can live up to 16 years. Adultmales grow to 3 feet; females measure approximately 2 feet. The tail is flattened,banded brown and green, and ends in a point The tail makes up 75 percent of their length. Water dragons have well-developed legs andthe front legs climb and grasp branches, while the muscular back legs aid inclimbing and swimming. Water dragonsalso jump and can run very quickly, often just using their hind legs.

In Canada, dragons tend to be ofthe fruit or boat variety. Some say thatin Keppenfelt Bay, near Barrie, Ontario, there may be a sort of dragon in thewater. Many zoologist and otherspecialists in aquatics label reported unusual animals in Canadian lakes andstreams as `Chinese Water Dragons`. Doing so, however, is a clear sign that the source is not knowledgeableabout such things. Chinese water dragons(Physignathus cocincinus) only grow to about three feet, and while their namemight suggest they are aquatic, most of their time is spent on land. They are called water dragons because theylive near the water, not in it.

Dragons are favorites inmythology. We’ve tamed and capturedthem, ridden them across the sky, and saved damsels from their fiery breath. Early science documented them as follows:

Scientific Description 1658

“ There be some dragons which have wings and no feet, some again have both feetand wings, and some neither feet nor wings, but are only distinguished from thecommon sort of Serpents by the comb growing upon their heads, and the beardunder their cheeks. Gyllius, Pierius, and Gervinus . . . do affirm that aDragon is of a black colour, the belly somewhat green, and very beautiful tobehold, having a treble row of teeth in their mouths upon every jaw, and withmost bright and clear-seeing eyes, which caused the Poets to say in theirwritings that these dragons are the watchful keepers of Treasures. They havealso two dewlaps growing under their chin, and hanging down like a beard, whichare of a red colour: their bodies are set all over with very sharp scales, andover their eyes stand certain flexible eyelids. When they gape wide with theirmouth, and thrust forth their tongue, their teeth seem very much to resemblethe teeth of wild Swine: And their necks have many times gross thick hairgrowing upon them, much like unto the bristles of a wild Boar.

Their mouth, (especially of themost tamable Dragons) is but little, not much bigger than a pipe, through whichthey draw in their breath, for they wound not with their mouth, but with theirtails, only beating with them when they are angry. But the Indian, Ethiopian,and Phrygian dragons have very wide mouths, through which they often swallow inwhole fowls and beasts. Their tongue is cloven as it were double, and theInvestigators of nature do say that they have fifteen teeth of a side. Themales have combs on their heads, but the females have none, and they arelikewise distinguished by their beards.” - Historie of Foure-Footed Beasts (1658) By: Edward Topsell

It does seem unlikely that thesesorts of mythological, flying, fire breathing dragons ever existed. Biologically, no animal can create fire inits mouth. Certainly beings of the sizein folklore would not be able to fly. An animal the size of a classical dragonwould require wings so large that it couldn’t flap them! Of course the final “nail in the coffin” ofdragon lore is that there have never been fossil/skeletal remains found. It would be easy to stamp the case as closedbased on those facts alone.

Historically, however, dragonsexist in many cultures. There are logsand records that turn up in different cultures all over the ancient world, andwith the same features and attributes. If such a creature did not ever exist, whydo all the pictures, paintings, carvings, embroideries, and descriptions matcheven though those cultures did not communicate at the time? From thousands ofyears ago until just a few hundred years ago, they have been cited anddescribed in detail by people from New Zealand to the Inuit of northern Canada. Marco Polo noted in his records of his tripsto China that the royal family kept dragons for ceremonies.

A researcher who was looking intothe municipal records of a small village in ancient China, noted how there wascasual mention of dragons quite often. He cited one case where an outlyingvillage had been bothered by a bear, and so the leader of the main town tooksome hunters on a two week excursion to kill it. About a kilometer down the road,they were attacked by a dragon. They killedit with spear and arrows, but since there were just heading out they decidednot to carry the carcass with them. By the time they came that way again, 2weeks later, the dragon’s body had deteriorated badly so they left itpermanently. It became a marker on the road telling travellers how far theywere from town. Over the course of the next few months, it quickly dissolved. Within 2 years, the bones themselves haddissolved as well and no skeleton remained. Biologists researched and analysed the stories and determined that thereare certain metabolic processes that could create acids that would dissolve thetissues like that even after death. These acids would be produced along withcertain gases, specifically hydrogen.

One expert biologist who hasspeculated on the subject of whether dragons were real is Dr. Peter Hogarth,Senior Biologist of the University of York, in the UK. He is considered theworld’s foremost authority on the real-life possibility of dragons. Dr. Hogarthand other biologists determined that an animal could conceivably have 4stomachs like a cow, but generate gases in them that would create enoughbuoyancy to help lift the animal into the air, almost like a balloon, as somebirds have. This would allow the animal to have shorter, smaller wings sincethey didn’t have to work as hard to lift the entire weight of the animal. Thewings would mostly be used to take off and maneuver which reduces the sizenecessary to within more reasonable limits.

Hydrogen, when mixed withplatinum powder, and oxygen of the air, will ignite into flames at roomtemperature. Scientists postulate that whenthe creature needed to dive to attack, it would have to expel some of itsgasses in order to reduce buoyancy. Expelling gasses would have meant ignitinginto flames from the mouth. Additionally, some animals are quite resistant to flame (and radiationand other things) so it is conceivable that the dragon, if it “breathed fire”would not burn itself.

“Super-rats” of South America andIndia became resistant to fire when they burned the sugar cane fields. Theyalso became resistant to poisons, and virtually every method devised to killthem except hitting them with a club. Resistance to heat and flame is evolutionarilypossible and even pre-existent in other species. The Pompeii worm, (Alvinellapompejana) discovered in 1980, can tolerate water temperatures of up to 80degrees centigrade.

The same metabolism that wouldcreate hydrogen in internal sacs, which would also create fire when expelledand mixed with air, is also highly caustic. These natural acids would dissolve the body and skeleton quickly.

From a Cryptological standpoint,perhaps this “Year of the Dragon” will bring new discoveries. May the Jade Emperor bless you and yours and reveal his secrets to all who aresearching. 新年快乐

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_zodiac

http://www.chinesezodiac.com/dragon.php

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/01/22/f-year-of-the-dragon.html

http://www.psican.org/alpha/index.php?/2008072988/Cryptozoology/Dragons-In-The-Water-Barrie-Ontario-Canada.html

http://www.reptilechannel.com/lizards/lizard-species/chinese-water-dragon-species.aspx

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/ReptilesAmphibians/Facts/FactSheets/Asianwaterdragon.cfm

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/animals/news-hottest-animal-world

http://www.valserrie.com/vs%20A_DidDragonsExist.htm

http://animal.discovery.com/convergence/dragons/myth/myth.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade_Emperor

The RCMP and Sasquatch

2012-01-18T16:41:00.000-08:00

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is the Canadian national public safety service for all of Canada. It provides national,federal, provincial and municipal policing, including services to 184Aboriginal communities and three international airports. Their duties are varied, and sometimes, rather odd.

In May 1873, the Parliament of Canada established a central police force and one hundred and fifty new recruits headed to Manitoba for training. Since then, the size and scopeof the RCMP has changed and improved and currently their main focus is onserious or organized crime and national security. From time to time, however, these highlytrained officers get a report of a Sasquatch.

The last weekend of October 1974, a witness in Mackenzie, BCsaw what he first thought was a large black stump leaning against the trunk ofa large pine tree about 500 to 600 feet away. As he approached, the tall black haired creature on two legsmoved to hide behind the tree. Witness fired a shot over the creature's headand it turned and ran very fast straight down a steep hill. The witness then reported the incident to thelocal RCMP. Two years later, theManitoba RCMP received a rash of reports from Poplar River. Officers interviewed witnesses at PoplarRiver Reserve and filed this statement:

"Several people were interviewed and they all statedthat the animal was approximately seven to eight feet tall and was very broadat the shoulders. It had the general body structure of a man only many timeslarger. A foot cast was taken of the foot impression that was left behind bythe so-called monster and is held at this detachment. It measures 16 inches by5 inches, and has only 3 toes. It's fur is a glossy gray color and it has whitehair on it's head. They stated that it was very powerfully built and one manreported that he saw it swimming. To date there have been no further reports ofsightings in our area. It should be noted that this so-called monster seemedvery inquisitive towards the people and would come around the houses on thesettlement and look in doors and windows." ...1976 Norway House RCMPReport (Rocky Mountain Mounted Police)

Christmas 2008 brought reports of the hairy beast from CacheCreek, BC. The report was made bysomeone who claimed their father was following behind a pickup that hit thecreature. Both drivers got out, and there was this big hairy thing laying inthe road. The report goes on to say themen loaded the creature, still alive, into the back of the pickup truck, andthey were taking it to the RCMP in Cache Creek. Ashcroft RCMP Sgt. Dave Prentice says he has seen plenty of Sasquatchesin area “although none of them have been real.” Rumours circulated that the creaturewas being kept on ice somewhere in the dark recesses of the RCMP Detachment.Prentice says the only cooler they have is the little fridge in the lunchroomand while they do keep blood samples in there from time to time, there havebeen no Sasquatches. Mounties nearPinawa, Manitoba did catch a Sasquatch in 2007, but the creature turned out tobe an 18-year-old Winnipeg man wearing a hairy gorilla mask. No charges were laid.

According to John Kirk, no other police force has had todeal with more cryptids than the RCMP. In 1977, a Greyhound bus driven by Pat Lindquist, a reserve officer withthe Vancouver Police Department, stopped short near Lake Erroch B.C. when whatappeared to be a sasquatch crossed the road in front of the vehicle. He got outof the bus and chased the alleged Sasquatch. On the side of the road he foundlarge footprints, but lost the creature as it disappeared into the bush. Rene Dahinden was called in to investigatethe sighting and found that the RCMP was conducting an investigation. Dahinden examined the tracks and said thatthey were genuine and that Lindquist must have seen a Sasquatch. Then four young men from the Vancouversuburbs stepped forward and confessed that they had hoaxed the wholeaffair. Again, no charges were laid, butDahinden resolved to never be fooled again.

Cpl. Annie Linteau, Communication Officer for E Division(Vancouver), was contacted about current RCMP protocol and stated:

“I can confirm that an investigative file is generated as aresult of any incident reported to the police. The file is then assigned to a member for investigation. Based on the circumstances of the incidentand if the incident appears to be related to an animal, police will advise theirlocal conservation office for follow-up.”

When asked what the protocol would be if someone were toshoot a suspected Bigfoot, she replied,

“I am really not in a position to comment asto what sanctions someone may receive as a result of a shooting incident. All I can say is that it is theresponsibility of the police to investigate any shootings. All investigative findings would then be sentto the Prosecution Services for their assessment as to whether or not chargesare appropriate.”

A very similar response comes from Manitoba:

“The RCMP in Manitoba do not track reports of Bigfootsightings per say, so I cannot provide a number for the province.

I can tell you thatthe RCMP takes all calls seriously. In any complaint of a wild animal orunknown creature sighting, the safety of the public would be our firstpriority. The investigation would more likely be turned over to ManitobaConservation and Water Stewardship to follow up.” (Cpl. Miles Hiebert, DDivision)

While it still seems that the Mounties always get their man,it may be up to wildlife professionals to get us a Sasquatch.

http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/hist/index-eng.htm

http://www.ontariosasquatch.com/#/bbuzz-norway-hs/4529016512

http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/mb/yir-bilan-10-11/polic-landscape-apercu-svcs-eng.htm

http://paranormal.boomja.com/index.php?ITEM=49303

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/08/15/sasquatch.html?ref=rss

http://www.cryptomundo.com/evidence/cryptid-cops1/

http://www.hancockhouse.com/products/bigsas_pics.htm

Many thanks to theRCMP officers who allowed me their comments and were gracious and respectful intheir correspondence.

An Appreciation of Rene Dahinden

2012-01-12T11:28:00.000-08:00

By Dale Drinnon

First of all came Ivan Sanderson's book on Abominable Snowmen: I discovered that in my local library in the late 1960s, before the book was a decade old, and at the same time as I discovered Tim Dinsdale's Loch Ness Monster. But actually the next book I saw on Bigfoot was Rene Dahinden's Sasquatch. John Napier's book on Bigfoot had come out as magazine excerpts at the time and although I already knew of his work as an Anthropologist, it was only after I had a copy of Dahinden's book that I got a copy of Napier's book. So for many years I was impressed by Dahinden more than by John Green or by any of the other Sasquatch-hunters, and probably his opinion that some of the Sasquatch tracks were left by Neanderthals influenced my opinion that there actually was a second category of Bigfoots in North America, a sort of American Almas.

(Full clip available here: http://archives.cbc.ca/lifestyle/pastimes/topics/1462-9705/ )

First of all came Ivan Sanderson's book on Abominable Snowmen:I discovered that in my local library in the late 1960s, before the book was adecade old, and at the same time as I discovered Tim Dinsdale's Loch NessMonster. But actually the nextbook I saw on Bigfoot was Rene Dahinden's Sasquatch.John Napier's book on Bigfoot had come out as magazine excerpts atthe time and although I already knew of his work as an Anthropologist, itwas only after I had a copy of Dahinden's book that I got a copy of Napier'sbook. So for many years I was impressed by Dahinden more than by John Green orby any of the other Sasquatch-hunters, and probably his opinion that some ofthe Sasquatch tracks were left by Neanderthals influenced my opinion that thereactually was a second category of Bigfoots in North America, a sort of AmericanAlmas.

Tracking the sasquatch

Broadcast Date: Dec. 21, 1976

Rene Dahinden was probably Canada's only full-time sasquatchhunter. Since 1957 the Swiss immigrant's sole pursuit was to seek out thelegendary hairy giant of the B.C. forest. He took hundreds of footprint castsand owned a share of the world's only Sasquatch film, but never managed tocatch a glimpse of the beast. Even so, Dahinden was convinced the sasquatch isreal. "I will keep on searching 'til I find the damn thing," he toldCBC Television's The Fifth Estate in 1976.

Dahinden's obsessionbroke up his family and forced an austere lifestyle on him. Every penny heearned went straight to his search. He carefully followed up every sighting andfound witness reports dating back to 1811. Despite Dahinden's efforts to provethe sasquatch exists, scientists are skeptical. "We have no skulls, nobones, nothing," says one. "Just these nebulous footprints which canbe manufactured, or films which can be manufactured."

A review of his bookSasquatch:

Who, or what, left footprints that could only have been made bycreatures weighing up to a thousand pounds and standing as tall as ten feet? Dothey really exist? Or are the many sightings spanning thousands of miles andhundreds of years merely to be explained away by the authorities as bad dreamsand, worse, hoaxes? In this fascinating and probing book, Don Hunter examinesthese and other bewildering questions. In association with Rene Dahinden, a nowlegendary Canadian Sasquatch hunter who has spent decades tracking down theseelusive humanoids, author Hunter chronicles the exhaustive research carried outby layman and scholar alike in the quest for the truth about the North AmericanAbominable snowman. For centuries, the Native People of British Columbia andthe Northwest United States have incorporated the Sasquatch into their legends,and many today are still firmly convinced of its existence. But only whenscores of people begin attesting to face-to-face meetings with the Sasquatch(some of the eye-witnesses offer photographs and film to prove it), and onlywhen fully documented footprints measuring up to eighteen inches in length,separated by six-foot strides, began appearing in locales as diverse as Nahanniand California, did non-believers and scoffers start to pay more attention tothis anthropological phenomenon.

Dahinden's meticulous research in the hands of one of WesternCanada's most respected and accomplished authors and journalists, Don Hunter,becomes a compelling, entertaining story of one of the world's remaining greatmysteries.
- ---
Rene Dahinden knows more about this mystery than anyone.
Reviewer: A reader posting to Amazon.com:
I personally knew Rene Dahinden, have been to his home,and spent time in thewoods with him searching for sasquatch. He is a serious,quiet man. He has spentmost of his life investigating this mysterious creature. The amount of data hehas compiled is amazing.Rene is not one given to exaggeration,he always tellsit like it is. When it comes to big foot, he doesn't need to embellish.Rene isthe reason the only legitimate film ever taken of bigfoot exists.It was Rene'sinformation that led Roger Patterson to Bluff Creek,California in the 1960s.Many people have seen the short footage taken by Patterson, few know ReneDahinden's involvement. This book is factual.If you want to explore the mysterybehind 100s of years of lore,read Rene's book.You will be educated,entertainedand amazed.

And Dahinden's biography and obituary

http://sasquatch-bc.com/dahinden.html

Rene Dahinden came to Canada from Switzerland in the 1950’s andwent to work in a dairy farm in Alberta. Inspired by the 1953 Daily MailNews Expedition to find the Yeti ( Abominable Snowman) in Nepal, Reneopined that it would, indeed, be something to be part of such an expedition.Itwas at this point that a co-worker confided ..that he didn't have to go halfway around the world to find those creatures. There were lots of them just overthe mountains in BC. The rest..as they say..is history.!

Rene Dahinden came to BC in search of the Sasquatch. He wasprobably Canada's only full-time Sasquatch hunter, back in those days.From thelate 50's onward it became his sole goal to seek out the Sasquatch and bringone into the scientific light.
Up and down the PNW he investigated sightings and made casts. Into the 60's and70's and 80's it was, René Dahinden's accented voice which was the loudest atmeeting halls, auditoriums and symposiums. Where ever researchers were seen togather, Dahinden could be counted upon to turn up and be brash and opinionated.He could not suffer those, that he considered to be, foolish people.

From many accounts, the passing years without results weighed heavily upon ReneDahinden's shoulders. And the elusive ape creature tasked him at every turn.Friendships were fleeting in the wake of his, now souring, disposition.

For all of his time and effort, he owned a share of the world'sonly Sasquatch film, but never managed to catch a glimpse of the critter. Evenso, he never for a moment allowed his faith in the creature to falter. "Iwill keep on searching 'til I find the damn thing," he told CBC Televisionin 1976.

Dahinden had taken the mystery of the Sasquatch to a world class level. Touringand knocking on the doors of all who might listen. But through his bestefforts, the scientific community remained unmoved.
His foray into the world of Sasquatch had left him a sad and bitter person.Often this is the outcome with obsessions. With a long broken family and nowearning barley enough to keep his hopes for his quest alive... every penny heearned went straight to his search. He carefully followed up every sighting andfound witness reports dating back two hundred years..

He died in 2001, after almost half a century of following ridge lines, mountainslopes, and narrow valleys, with nothing to show for his time or effort.Mysteries, whether they are lost mines, treasures, or hidden creatures can taketheir toll on the unlucky who overstay their alloted time for pursuit of such.

I never met Rene Dahinden, and although I know a number of peoplewho have, it saddens me that I never got the chance to shake his hand. Hispassing left a huge void in this field of endeavor!

Early CBC interview; 1957

Last CBC interview !

Bigfootforums.com
"The most intelligent discussion forum on the subject!"

MacFarlane’s Bear

2012-01-07T16:16:00.000-08:00

In 1864, Inuit hunters shot and killed an enormousyellow-furred bear in Canada’s Northwest Territories. They gave the skin and skull to naturalistRobert MacFarlane, who then shipped them to the Smithsonian Institution.

Robert MacFarlane was the same person as Roderick Ross McFarlaneof the Hudson’s Bay Company. McFarlaneis historically noted to be a mercantile operative for the company and anarctic naturalist. He established FortAnderson for HBC in 1861 to facilitate trade with the Inuit. Five years later the Fort closed due todeclining revenues, probably caused by a measles epidemic that killed many inthe area. Fort Anderson, on the AndersonRiver, was located about halfway between Great Bear Lake and the Beaufort Bayarea of the Arctic Ocean. The bear wasshot at Sachs Harbor and Fort Anderson was the closest trading post at the time. The Smithsonian recently retooled theMacFarlane donations into a collection of over 5000 items designated in aspecial study of Inuit history.

At the Smithsonian, the items were stored away and forgottenuntil the early 1900’s. At the time ofthe acquisition of the bear, the Smithsonian was only 20 years old. Interestingly, shortly after the bear arrivedat the museum, they suffered a devastating fire. Because the bear was deep in storage and noton display, it was spared any damage.

In 1918, Dr. Clinton Hart Merriam researched theremains. He proposed they were from anew species and not a brown bear at all. He named it Vetularctos inopinatus,calling it the "ancient unexpected bear." Dr. Merriam was the first chief of theDivision of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy of the United States Departmentof Agriculture, which evolved into the National Wildlife Research Center andthe United States Fish and Wildlife Service. He was also one of the original founders of the National Geographic Society. Through the course of his research, heproposed many different species of brown bears.

It was not originally believed that brown bears and polarbears interbred and formed hybrid, but this has since been confirmed. MacFarlane’s bear has pale tan fur and anoddly shaped skull which is consistent with known brown/polar hybrids. To date, no DNA testing has been done on thisspecimen to confirm that it was indeed this pairing rather than a new species. If it turns out to be a hybrid the scientificnames Vetularctos and Ursus inopinatus would become invalid under the ICZN.

Dr. Blaine W. Schubert (of East Tennessee State University)was allowed to examine the skull (although the Institute did not allow theexamination to be filmed). Schubert stated that he was "100% sure"that it was the skull of a young, female brown bear and "actually, not aparticularly large individual." Itshould be noted, however, that Dr. Schubert is primarily a Paleontologist withspecialties in Cave Paleontology and evolution of short faced bears. While his knowledge is extensive and hisopinion valuable, he is not an expert in Arctic bears nor their prehistoricforefathers.

In 1984, E. Raymond Hall synonymized U. inopinatus with U.arctos horribilis, the normal grizzly bear. Dr. Hall was influential in vertebrate zoology until his death in 1986.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacFarlane's_bear

http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/26/crossinglakewinnipeg.shtml#12

http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/aborig/inuvial/forte.shtml

http://herpnet.org/Gazetteer/NorthwestTerritories.pdf

http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/macfarlane_rr.shtml

http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/html/pdf/Inuvialuit%20Smithsonian%20Report%202009-2011_FINAL.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Hart_Merriam

http://faculty.etsu.edu/schubert/

The Sarich Skull

2011-12-31T12:14:00.000-08:00

It seems odd to blog from Canada about a case in Wales! That’s what this is, though—the saga of theSarich Skill.

This partial skull was found on a beach in South Wales andsent to me for further study. The fellowwho found it simply was hoping for identification. We were most grateful to receive this gift,as it gives an opportunity to investigate and to learn basic forensicidentification methods.

The first thing we looked at was the general shape. The skull has been photographed and measuredfrom all angles. At first glance, it appearsto be a goat, but as it weighs 0.4kg (400 grams) and horn tip to horn tip isonly 12.5 cm, that may not be the case.

If there was a jawbone and a few teeth, the positiveidentification would be much easier. Additionally, since the skull probably spent a great deal of time in thewater, its weight is likely affected by sediment and fossilization. A normal goat skull weighs about 400 gramswith organs and flesh intact and without horns.

Is it a goat? Theangle of the horns and the flat space between them counter indicates mostbreeds of goats. This small size makes us reluctant to label it bovine—a bovinespecies mature enough to have horns should be much larger.

A sheep perhaps? The eye sockets of a sheep face sidewaysand the orbital sockets on this specimen do not appear to. Forward facing eyes are a characteristic of apredator; binocular vision helps focus on the prey. Sheep horns do tend to be separated by a flatspace as is present on this skull.

Specialists from several Canadian Universities have examinedthe skull and to date it remains unidentified. Mr. Sarich has donated the skull for further study and for use in educationalevents regarding cryptozoology.

It might well be a goat or a sheep. Right now, as an unknown animal, the SarichSkull is our very own cryptid.

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/goats/

http://www.skullsite.co.uk/Goat/goat.htm

http://www.goatbiology.com/goatskull.html

http://agrisamaj.com/Receipe.htm

http://www.thinktank.ac/page.asp?section=509&sectionTitle=Sheep+Skull

http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/natresources/az1145.pdf

UPDATE

2011-12-29T12:21:00.000-08:00

A couple of things got left out last timebut going back again allows me to clarify a couple of points.

Back in 2007, Craig Woolheater wrote an articlefor the Cryptomundo site which touched upon the interrelatedness of some NativeNorth American water-monsters and uncovered fossils which were supposed to haveinspired them. The discussion at that point included some quotes from oneAdrienne Mayor, author of a book on fossil discoveries and related mythology,and cited a recent find of a fossil fish-tailed crocodile in the state ofOregon.

http://www.cryptomundo.com/bigfoot-report/na-water-monster/

"...Most intriguing, the initialrestoration of the fossil croc bears a striking resemblance to a mythic animalof some Native American tribes, the Kiowa, Sioux, Pomo of northern Californiaand others, says Adrienne Mayor, a visiting scholar at Stanford University,author of Fossil Legends of the First Americans. A University of Oregonartist’s depiction of the crocodile greatly resembles the Kiowa artistSilverhorn’s 1891-94 sketch of a water monster with scales, a long narrow headwith needle teeth and a forked fish-tail drawn to illustrate water serpentlegends, Mayor says. The Pomo Indians described a fish-tailed, needle-toothedwater monster called Bagil, as well. [Similarwater-monsters are described in several lakes along the California-Nevadaborder, including the "Serpent" of Walker lake. The long toothy jawsand flinty-hard scales, together with the "snaky" head and body withthe forked fish-tail, all remind me irresistably of some sort of a garfish-DD] "...Avery similar dragon-creature is described from northeastern California, Parkmanadds. The Ajumawi people have a legend of a big serpent-like creature with fishtail and elk antlers, similar to Bagil...

"Antlers or horns are common in NativeAmerican depictions of sacred or mysterious creatures," Mayor notes.

Parkman also notes at Serpent Cave, in BajaCalifornia, "there are beautiful cave paintings of big serpent-likefigures sporting deer antlers and fish tails. In British Columbia, in the SteinRiver Valley, there are rock paintings of alligator-like creatures sportingfish tails. Rock art depictions of alligator-like creatures also occurelsewhere in the U.S., including Utah, Arizona, and Ohio."[These areMishipizhiws. The Ohio citation includes an "Alligator" mound whichis actually a "Water-Panther" instead.]

originalcredit-Dan Vergano, USA TODAY

-I would like to go on record as stating that the fossil crocodilebears no resemblance whatsoever to any of the water-monsters under discussion.The water-monsters all have full racks of deer, moose or elk antlers and whenthey are spoken of as having feet at all, the feet have cloven hooves (forwhich se the 1909 Omaha water-monster drawing). Furthermore, the fishy monstersare all supposed to be heavily armoured with thich scales while the fossilcrocodile is scaleless. And the fossils actually show no obviousindication that the animals were fish-tailed in life: the fin part did notfossilize since it was only composed of soft flesh originally.

Instead all of these Water-Monsters belong to the same category ofEurasian creatures that started out as the horse-headed, multi-humped "SeaSerpents" of Scandinavia since the 1600s-1700s and which were seensomewhat later on off the coast of New England and then eventually off thecoast of British Columbia as "Caddies" or "Cadborosaurus."They were also reported regularly in Quebec since the or early 1800saccording to George Eberhart, who calls them "Horse's Heads" in thisinstance. In both British Columbia and in the area around the Great Lakes, theywere definitely identified as the traditional Horned (Antlered) Water Serpents,and the descriptions continued across Canada from sea to sea. In Ontario, theterm On Niont was on record for this sort of creature sighting in 1647-48.

These sightings I would say were one and all based on imperfectsightings of swimming moose. And although it would seem that only the white menwould be foolish enough to be fooled by such a sight, many of the earlysightings up to the 1930s were made by Indians. It may be that these weremostly older men, women or children who were not accustomed to seeing moose orelk swimming.

The giveaway is when the heads are seen to bear full racks ofhorns (antlers). These are shown on some of the traditionalrepresentations including the Kiowa example from the 1890s and on the Navajopot labelled LB03. Without the horns being apparent we can still recogniseswimming mooses becaus of their "Bent" camel-noses, big droopy ears,fully-haired back, and sometimes even the beard or "bell" on thethroat (See the "Cadborosaurus" representations in the photos) Mooseare indeed sometimes swimming out of sight of land at sea off both BritishColumbia and Scandinavia. And although the fact might not have been recalled inconnection to these traditions, The Kiowa, Apache and Navajo are actuallyCanadian peoples who migrated Southwards in the period just before the Whitemen came. That is why their Horned Serpents sport full racks of antlers whereasthe water-minsters of the Sioux and their neigbours only have simple one-tinehorns. The Sioux water-monsters are the ones based on actual fossil creatures,and they astutely gathered that the pterosaurs were flying creatures, Plesiosaursand Mosasaurs were Sea-Monsters, and that two of the most obvious andcharacteristic types of dinosaurs were the big Sauropods(which are often foundwith the relatively small and fragile heads missing) and the big-headedCeratopsians (of which the sturdy skull is the most likely to be preserved) andso my idea is that they put those two together and made a symbol that said"Dinosaur" (or Unktehila, which was thegeneric name they used for the same thing) Incidentally, it has been known thatthe Indians knew about dinosaur fossils since the White Men began hunting forthem: they did not try to hide the fact that this was their idea from thestart. Therefore this is not a new discovery. Some of the dinosaur books I hadas a child mentioned the situation.

For a full explanation of the Water-Horse theory, please see myCFZ blog at the link below: and if you still think the"Train-of-Humps" represent the back of a multi-humped monster, pleasepay especial attention to the photos at the end of the posting.

Best Wishes, Dale D.

http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2011_05_01_archive.html

My name is Matthew, and I blame Minden, Ontario for my fear of Sasquatch.

2011-12-26T14:43:00.000-08:00

by Guest Blogger Matthew J. Didier, PSICAN

I'm more known as a "ghost" person from my workand study, but I've often said that (thanks to popular culture,) my first'paranormal' love was Ufology. I was, after all, a child of "Chariots ofthe Gods", "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", and of course,"Star Trek" on television mixed with a whopping dollop of "StarWars" in the theatres. As I related this story recently, I realised thatthis may be, indeed, a wee bit of a fib... because in reality, I was enamouredwith Cryptozoology long before I was wrapped comfortably in life beyond ourplanet... and far beyond my late nights in haunted spots!

...and potentially, Minden and vicinity are to blame.

Oh, I'd love to tell you I had some sort of encounter orepiphany at a very young age (the time frame I'm looking at is sometime between1968... when I was one year old up to or around

1976,) or that I was drawn to the rather"kooky" sign for the still present Ogopogo resort that we'd passon Highway 35 en route to my family's cottage on Beech Lake near to Minden(yes, it was named after the lake creature far away from Ontario in BritishColumbia,) but again, this wouldn't be true...

Minden, ON, photo by Brain St Dennis

I became fascinated with Sasquatch because he smelledbad... and I have always had an odd fear of extremely bad smells... but thatfear is something I haven't worried about or bothered to come to terms with asthe fear really didn't last (more than any normal person's worries aboutstinks, I'd say,) passed my tween years.

This said, I would not have thought about, considered, oreven known about Sasquatch's odour had it not been for a particularly bad(? -well, overly dramatic...) documentary that was once shown at the old BeaverTheatre (now a "centre for the performing arts", but back then,strictly a movie house,) all those years ago. If memory serves, it was either the same day (double-bill) as"Chariots of the Gods" or at least that same Summer... and I wish forthe life of me, I could remember the name of the documentary or even thesituation it was viewed in, but a few decades have obscured that memory.

You see, my parents would often travel to the littleisland we owned on Beech Lake for entire Summers... often leading to extremelybored kids, and a movie "in the big town" was often a cure for whatis most properly called "cabin fever" in these cases. I saw most of my first James Bond films atboth The Beaver in Minden and the Molou in Haliburton Village... but whenremembering, despite Mr. von Däniken's compelling evidence to show my youngeyes that we've been visited by spacemen, it was Bigfoot's stink that held me.

As I said, I had a weird phobia (a tiny bit more thanmost, I think,) of really bad smells... and throughout the documentary, theykept harkening back to the dreadful stench given off by a Sasquatch... and howit was nauseating... and often preceded a sighting. It didn't help that therewas at least one "terrorising" Bigfoot attack dramatised in themovie, complete with the reminder of the wretch-inducing smell.

Now, imagine seeing that... being somewhere between 5 or8 years old... and then going to, at the time, a fairly secluded cottage on anisland in what seemed to my young, city-bred eyes, the back country of themiddle of nowhere... and trying to sleep.

Every tree groan, twig snap, small gust of wind broughtwhat I was certain would be an attack by a foul smelling creature that was sureto be most unpleasant.

I remember bothering my mother and father consistently (Iwould never have trusted information from my horrible and cruel sisters onthese matters,) about sightings and evidence of Sasquatch in and around theMinden - Carnarvon - Haliburton corridor... although their re-assurance waslittle help for my insomnia. My onlyrelief that summer came from the ride back into the Sasquatch-Free land of thebig city, with it's constant noise and lights.

Statue in Minden, ON

It is with some relief, as stated, that this fear lastedall of one Summer... and the family cottage and it's surrounding area became ahaven of swimming, playing, and boating shortly thereafter.

What's odd, however, is that despite Ufology and ghoststaking most of my study-time up, I never lost my interest in the sightings ofSasquatch and the many genus/variations therefound... and I still get a tingleof excitement when I hear of a sighting or potential evidence to say that thosefears... the fear of the "attack" of the "stinky" creature... might have been at least somewhat founded...well, founded in a more "conventional" zoological (or other) sense.

The thing of it is, although from the usual suspects, I'msure this will simply add to the "woo" rating I have for"believing in that stuff", I do believe that people do experienceSasquatch, Bigfoot, Yellow Top, The Yowi, The Yeti, and all of those things...and I do believe the experience is "external" (for those that assume,incorrectly, that I believe it's all hallucinatory in nature,) and that at somepoint, that very young man back on Beech Lake in another time had not so muchsomething to worry about...but was correct in thinking "it could happen tome"... and, apparently, if it does now, I am glad I'm over my fear of thesmell of this creature.

I honestly don't know why I feel that this entry is"worthy" of posting... perhaps to say that there's a myriad of waysand times in one's life that an interest in the paranormal comes to them... andthat not all of us "outgrow" it because we "know better".

Some of us, truly, believe that we don't knoweverything... and may never know it all... and as long as people stillexperience these things, it's worth the look.

Introduction-Canadian Water Monsters

2011-12-20T07:20:00.000-08:00

CFZ Canada welcomes guest blogger Dale Drinnon. I'm sure you will enjoy his offerings! Thanks so much, Dale, for your support. ~Robin

CFZ Canada had put up an article earlier thisyear in which it was stated that Plesiosaur fossils had been found in thedeposits left behind by Glacial Lake Agassiz. This would be unusual for severalreasons, not the least of which would be that the lake would be pretty muchperpetual icewater. I had also discovered something about Lake Monsters inNorth America during my studies of the reports, most of which I shall explainlater in this article. But for this matter I should say that Lake Agassiz wasan extremely transitory body in Geologic time: it was not in any oneplace for long and it did not last a for a long time all told. Itsposition was continually shifting northward with the retreat of the continentalice sheet, and the total thickness of accumulated deposit was not much.Therefore it is quite possible to have aquatic deposits laid down in the samegeographic area (or part of it) but at a different (probably older) time. Andso this is what I expect was the case of the Plesiosaur fossils in this area,probably coming from an older time and a much warmer climate (I would be quitehappy to admit the opposite to be true should any good evidence show up toconfirm the idea that the Plesiosaur fossils were actually contemporary withLake Agassiz and Final-Pleistocene in date.)

Now the other matter was something which doesnot become apparent in reading the usual accounts of Water Monsters in NorthAmerica, but the fact is that The Longnecked animals are almost alwaysreported at the far East and West of the continent and almost always not veryfar inland from the sea. And this also seems true of the genuinely largeeel-like animals. Long-necked or Periscope reports are almost never from thedeep interior of the continent and they are therefore suspicious when they DOappear there.

I include two pieces of Native art todemonstrate the idea: one is a Longnecked Seaserpent "Totempole" fromthe far South of Alaska (and hence in the same cultural area as the adjoiningpart of British Columbia, including prime "Cadborosaurus" viewingarea) and the other a Mikmac Petroglyph from the East Coast area of a manedlongnecked animal with its neck down in usual swimming conformation. Thatpetroglyph looks pretty authentic to me and it compares well with Whitewitnesses' sketches for similar types of Seaserpent sightinngs. So personally Ithink that is probably a "Sketch from life" by an actual witness, ornot done long after an actual sighting in any event. It is also c;lose to otherpetroglyphs on the West coast. The "Totem Pole" is comparable in sizeand shape to a Viking ship's figurehead, but I suspect that the head is madelarger than the actual animls' would be in real life. However it is entirelypossible it is intended to show the "Periscope" at life size.

Now the conception of a Water Monster that heldover the interior of most of North America for most of the time was that of acreature called "The Great Horned Serpent". This category probablyincluded more than one original species but often the "Serpent" wouldbe shown with four short legs and the usual representation woul;d be then a"Water Panther", Piasa or "Mishipizhiw" (Piasa turns out tobe only an alternative form for Mishipizhiw= Water Panther) And I recently discoveredthat such "Fearsome Critters" as the Wisconsin Hodag are actuallylittle more than the White Man's borrowing of the same creature. As faras living creatures (Cryptids) go, there are some large Lizard-shapedanimals that are identified as "Water Panthers" but the originalcategory was an amalgam to start with. For that reason it is not too unusual ifthe identity had been tgged on to giant Otters in the north and also Giantspinybacked Iguana lizards in the warmer climes. However, it seems that thereis another reason why the special features of such representations are insistedupon.

The Sioux Water Monster Unktehila as depicted byJonathan Carver in 1766-7 seems plausibly drawn from the fossil remains of aDiplodocus topped off by the hurned round head of a Triceratops. And perhaps itactually is meant to be a sort of Paleontological reconstruction. The compositeimage seems to have been strong enough to capture the imagination of the NativeContinent: "THIS is what a Water Monster looks like"

To quote some similar words from a recent (Dec2005) National Geographic site:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0512/feature3/text-p3.html

Unktehila, Monsters in Native America
Ina small auditorium at Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the Black Hills ofSouth Dakota, Kevin Locke, a Lakota Sioux storyteller from Standing RockReservation, gently strokes a braided strand of sweetgrass. Its power will helphim bring forth good thoughts and feelings. Then he grips his ceremonialrattle, closes his eyes, and, as an attentive audience of Lakota Sioux childrenand visiting Boy Scouts listens, he sings a Lakota prayer used at thespringtime Thunder Feast.

“Leciya tuwa makipanpelo. Wiyohpeyata Wakinyan Oyate kola makipanpelo.”

The words rise and fall to the sound of Locke’s rattle, and he gives it anextra flourish at the end, signaling the close.

“We sing this to welcome the Thunder Nation,” Locke explains, referring tothunderstorms. “Maybe some of you have heard the word Wakinyan before and knowits meaning?”

One slender Lakota boy raises his hand. “It’s the name of our cat—he’s orangelike a Thunder Being.”

Locke smiles broadly. “Good, good. That’s right, Wakinyan are the ThunderBeings, forces with power, like the Thunder Birds. They come with the bigcumulus clouds in the spring to the prairies. The Wakinyan bring the rain,hail, thunder, and lightning—all the things that renew life after the winter.But in the long ago days, before humans, the Wakinyan also used these things ina big battle. And that battle was with the evil water monsters, the Unktehila.”

There were many different kinds of Unktehila, Locke continues, but most werelike huge reptiles with scaly skin and horns; some were like giant lizards, andothers were like serpents; some slithered on their bellies, and some had feet.“They ate each other and every other living thing, and so the Thunder Beingswere given a divine mission to kill the Unktehila. That’s when the ThunderBirds came with their thunder and lightning. They struck the water monsterswith lightning bolts and boiled their lakes and streams until they dried up.After that most of the Unktehila died or were very diminished in size, so thatall we have left today are some small snakes and lizards. But we know the giantUnktehila lived because our people found their bones in the Badlands and alongthe Missouri River.”

Indeed, long beforepaleontologists arrived to excavate the fossils of marine reptiles, NativeAmerican peoples were carrying away enormous bones that lay exposed on thesurface. For the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Kiowa (as well as many other tribes),the bones held special powers and could be used for healing or other rituals. And,as Locke explained, the bones were also “the physical manifestation of the evilforces the Unktehila represented.”

Although Locke had learned about theUnktehila from his elders and had sung the prayers of the Thunder Feast manytimes, he’d never seen the kinds of fossils that likely inspired the stories.So we went to the Museum of Geology at the South Dakota School of Mines andTechnology in Rapid City, where skeletons of a plesiosaur and mosasaur are ondisplay. These and other marine reptiles had lived in the ocean that coveredmuch of North America about 75 million years ago.

“Wow,” he said, nodding appreciativelyat the long-necked, fat-bodied plesiosaur. But it was the massive-jawedmosasaur that held his attention. “Now this one,” he said, pausing to size upthe 29-foot-long snaky animal, with its fierce array of teeth and double-hingedlower jaw joint that allowed it to swallow large kinds of prey (including othermosasaurs). “This one is an eating machine. If our people found one of these, I’msure they would call it Unktehila.”

And, Locke added, mosasaur-likecreatures with toothy jaws and horns were often painted on the tepee covers ofthe Kiowa, Cheyenne, and Blackfeet. Some Native Americans had carved images ofsuch creatures into the rocks above the Missouri River, and others had made oneout of stones along the river’s banks. “Everyone who sees these knows they’reUnktehila.”

Paleontologists often find bones ofpterosaurs, flying reptiles, along with the mosasaurs. Adrienne Mayor, a folklorist,suggests that pterosaur and mosasaur remains may indeed have triggered thestories of the Thunder Birds and their battle with the water monsters.

Do the Lakota, like the people whowait for Nessie to surface, regard the Unktehila as still existing? Lockehesitated. “Well, the old Unktehila were killed by the Thunder Birds. That’swhat our stories say. Some people still fear large bodies of water, and they’llsay prayers to protect themselves from Unktehila when crossing the MissouriRiver.”

But, he went on, the power of theUnktehila lies more in what they symbolize than in any hard reality. “They werea negative force and had to be destroyed. That’s what the Thunder Birds did forthe world. And that’s why it’s important for us to keep these stories alive.Because there are still negative forces—many that are even more powerful thanwater monsters—in the world today. We have to fight against things like alcoholand depression and materialism. These are the new Unktehila. We can fight themwith our songs and music.”

And that’s why Kevin Locke sings aboutsea monsters for the children: To remind them of their heritage and to tellthem about the ancient battle fought to bring goodness into the world.

In a way they are right because we do actuallystill have reports of Sea Monsters that are described like Plesiosaurs orMosasaurs. But the Water Monsters described as having full sets of antlers likedeer and moose are much more likely to be inspired by sightings of swimmingdeer and moose, with their long wakes giving the illusion of an elongated bodyswimming in the water with a "Serpentine" motion. On the other hand Ihave some different concept art for Unktehila and it seems to be drawn frommotre recent reports. It is a large fish=shaped creature with a series of knobson the backbone and those knobs give it away: the head os roughly correct butthe mouth and jaws are wong, and the vertically-flattened swimming tail is alsoabout correct but lacks the "Forked" effect of having two lobes. Inother words, the clearly seen parts of the fish are obviously representing somekind of a large sturgeon, while the filled-in underwater features are lessidentifiable because they are less accurate representations.

And the drawing ofthe "Cadborosaurus" from The Paranormal Haze article Monsters ofCanada-

http://www.paranormalhaze.com/monsters-of-canada/

Is a much better representation for the "Ogopogo"sightings that are more sturgeon-like. I have consequently renamed thatillustration as "Ogopogo"

It seems that the dominant type of largewater Cryptid from the midsection of the continent-From "Ogopogo"territory up to including the Great Lakes, at least, and at least as far asHudson's Bay to the North, seems to be a large sturgeon of some sort, and inthose areas "Periscopes" are rarely reported. When they ARE reported,they are usually in the range of 3-5 feet long/high and are most often reportsof swimming moose. Toward the East and West coasts themselves, there arereports of the Plesiosaur and Giant Eel types. In such places as Lake Champlainand other lakes in that area, the usual visual impression of the monster issomething like a Plesiosaurus of a "Brontosaurus" and that has stoodup as being true for the largest part of the 20th century. On the other hand,there is also much overlap so that dominantly in older days, and continuing oninto the present, you are still ALSO getting reports of swimming moose or deer,and then a minority of reports of seals and other mistakes.

Dale Drinnon joined the SITU back in the dayswhen Ivan Sanderson was still alive, and they exchanged some letters: at thetime of Sanderson's death he was allowed to go through Ivan Sanderson's filespretty extensively. Dale has run exhaustive statistical analyses on WaterMonster reports back in the 1970s, including this data, as well as somereferesher studies of the data more recently. Unfortunately the bulk of Dale'smaterial remains unpublished and remains controversial in that it stronglybucks the trend set by other Cryptozoologists and proposes new models forFreshwater types when traditionally the Monsters have been treated as if theywere all the same sort of thing (For examples see Peter Costello, In Search of LakeMonsters, on up to GeorgeEberhart, Mysterious Creatrures, 2002)

CryptoReindeer

2011-12-17T12:42:00.000-08:00

More rapidthan eagles his coursers they came,

And hewhistled, and shouted, and call'd them by name:

"Now,Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer, and Vixen!

"On,Comet! On, Cupid! On, Dunder and Blixem!

The poem by Clement C. Moore "A Visit from St.Nicholas" (also known as "The Night Before Christmas" or "T’wasthe Night Before Christmas") is usually credited for the Christmas lore that includes the eight flying reindeer. Whether Santa Claus is real is a matter of a belief system, but thereare reindeer—they’re not mysterious or cryptozoological. Unless they really do fly. If they do that puts them in my world and this week before Christmas I get to work on reindeer!

Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), are also known as caribou inNorth America. They are deer from theArctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. They aren’t rare or endangered but some ofthe subspecies are—in fact one or two may actually be extinct. Reindeer are also plentiful in Europe, whichis where the idea of flying ones was born.

Unlike “regular” deer, both male and female reindeer growantlers. Male antlers are typicallylarger and there are the occasional exceptions to the females having them atall. Wild reindeer are hunted for meat,antlers, hide, milk and, yes, transportation. In Lapland, reindeer pull pulks—sort of a low slide often used by skiers.

In Canada, reindeer share the Boreal Forrest, home to manyother sorts of cryptids.

Reindeer fur comes in many colors—it varies not only fromdeer to deer but also can change on the same deer depending on the season. If mythology is to be believed, the Christmasreindeer were brown and large—large enough to carry a sleigh with a fat fellowand thousands of toys. Because thenorthernmost reindeer are usually fairly small and white, we must assume the NorthPole inported Woodland Caribou from more southern areas. It is an excellent specimen for nighttimewinter travel as it is muscular and has two layers of coat; one of which is adense woolly undercoat. We must alsosurmise that Santa chose the herd from southern Canada, as the Scandinaviandeer are not only less hardy; their antlers fall off in December.

(just as an aside—has anyone ever found a random deer antlerin the forest?)

Reindeer have specialized noses but none are known to glowor even be red as with the 1939 Clause acquisition of Rudolph. Reindeer noses have bones that dramaticallyincrease the surface area within the nostrils and the incoming cold air iswarmed by body heat before entering the lungs, then water is condensed from theexpired air and captured before the deer's breath is exhaled. This is used to moisten dry incoming air andpossibly prevent their tender noses frombecoming red. They can, however, seeultraviolet light and are probably the only mammals that can. With such exceptional visit, it isn’t likelyRudolph’s services were at all needed. Perhaps this is why he was never permitted to play in reindeer games.

Reindeer Games was released in 2000

Mating occurs from late September to early November, so anyfemales in the Clause herd would probably not be chosen to pull thesleigh. The most dominant males willmate with as many as 20 females and stops eating during this time. He loses much of his body reserve so would likely be too weak to pull the sleigh. More likely adolescent males were used.

Reindeer can run up to 87 km per hour and have an averagebody weight of 86 kg. With this mass andspeed it is possible for a deer to attain liftoff prior to a flight. A deer, however, is not dynamically designedto sustain flight. It has no wings. Relativelyfew vertebrates evolved the necessary features for true flight. Only three biological classifications-pterosaurs, bats and birds - ever evolved the ability for powered flight.

Perhaps what the folks in Scandinavia were seeing pullingSanta’s Sleigh were actually pterosaurs because reindeer cannot fly.

The Canadian 25-cent quarter features a caribou on one face.The caribou is the official provincial animal of Newfoundland and Labrador,Canada, and appears on the coat of arms of Nunavut. Certainly around this time of year, thequarters fly out of my bank account. Maybe that is the connection.

Happy Holidays from CFZ-Canada!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reindeer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulk

http://reindeer.salrm.uaf.edu/resources/journal_articles/Growth.pdf

http://www.chacha.com/question/how-fast-can-a-reindeer-run

http://farside.ph.utexas.edu/teaching/301/301.pdf

http://www.abc.net.au/science/features/reindeer/default.htm

http://suzieqq.wordpress.com/2010/12/25/twas-the-night-before-christmas-poem-original-lyrics-text/

Canadian Black Cats

2011-12-11T10:47:00.001-08:00

Across the globe, sightings persist of “black panthers”. There are black (melanistic)felines; melanistic leopards aresometimes found in zoos and occasionally in the wild. Melanistic jaguars (the furry kind, not thecars!) are also sometimes seen both in captivity and in the wild. Panthers, or mountain lions, pumas, andcougars, are typically tawny and no black specimen has been documented.

On July 30, 2010 a “black panther-like cat” was seen in theLac George Road area of Alfred-Plantagenet,Ontario. It was lunchtime and agentleman phoned the police to report the cat. Others had spoken of seeing them, but this was the first police reportfor this area. Offers were dispatched,then the Ministry of Natural Resources, but no evidence of a big cat was found. Although officers suggested it would mostlikely be a black cougar, the Ministry maintains that it is highly unlikelythat cougars are present in this area of Ontario. Cougars were mostly wiped out in the late 1800’s,but it is possible that they are again building in number. Over 3000 sightings of cougars in Ontariohave been reported. Officially, cougarsare listed as endangered in Ontario. Additional sightings of blackpanthers/cougars have sprung up in all of Canada’s provinces-even in Port auchoix, Newfoundland.

The Ministry of Natural Resources has conducted a rather thoroughinvestigation of the possibility of cougars repopulating in Ontario. Since 2006 they have been collecting samplesof scat, DNA, and photos of tracks. Wildlife cameras have been placed, but so far no definitive photos of acougar have been captured. One OPPofficer stated that Eastern Cougars do exist and the DNR agrees. Since 1890(through August 2011) twenty two people in the US and Canada have been killedby cougars. None have been in Ontario.

Are there black ones? This is the real question. Thousands of reports have come from all over the western hemispheresince at least the early 1800’s. Severalyears ago, a fantastic photo of what seemed to be a black panther on a patiocirculated on the internet. Manyversions of the location were reported, one being Avonmore, Ontario.Interestingly, Avonmore is a mere 65km south of Alfred-Plantagenet. This photo is a legitimate one, taken in 2001by Dr. Dave Rogers in Lander, Wyoming. Cougars are not rare in that area, and accompanying photos show thatthis one is not actually black but the typical tawny color. Since melanistic animals do naturally occur,it may be only a matter of time before a legitimate black cougar isphotographed.

Google Books has a great offering called The Eastern Cougar:historic accounts, scientific investigations, and new ... By ChrisBolgiano, Jerry Roberts (link below). One of the important items that these authorsdiscuss is the existence of the jaguarondi, a small cat native to extreme southernUS and points south. This cat goesthrough a phase of its life as black, but it is considerably smaller than acougar.

One interesting side note—sometimes reports come in that awoman is screaming. This is often the mistaken interpretation of a cougar.

http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/lacgeo-panther/

http://thereview.ca/story/large-black-feline-spotted-alfred-plantagenet

http://www.easterncougar.org/pages/abouteasterncougars.htm

http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=avonmore,+ontario&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x4ccc2fa2a876ec7d:0x2de0d8fbc62d76a0,Avonmore,+ON&gl=ca&ei=3O_kToqQKuLa0QGIhKTeBQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=3&ved=0CC8Q8gEwAg

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/patiomountainlion.asp

http://books.google.ca/books?id=G6P_LYhjOpYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=eastern+cougar&hl=en&ei=k_HkToLhCsbj0QH3hKyGBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=eastern%20cougar&f=false

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguarundi

http://www.thewesternstar.com/Living/People/2009-01-27/article-1468323/People-report-large-black-cat-sightings-on-peninsula/1

http://www.junglewalk.com/Asounds/cougar6.wav

Charles Fort and the Dundas Minnows

2011-12-03T06:06:00.001-08:00

The Toronto Daily Star of February 27, 1926 reported:

Fish Dropped From Sky?

Dundas Seeks Explanation of Alleged Phenomenon -- Small BoyPrank?
Dundas, Feb. 26 -- In common with many other centres rainfell here yesterday afternoon, and several hours later residents wereastonished to observe small fish, about the size of baiting minnows, near thevicinity of Victoria and Market streets. The small fish, it is said, did notcome from the sewers, nor were they washed from the creek, which passed throughthe town.
James W. Dickson, a resident of the town, believes that thefish fell with the rain from the sky. He procured specimens and intends to seekscientific opinion for the phenomenon.
_____

Professor B. A. Bensley of the University of Toronto,declares that it is unlikely that the fish fell from the sky. "My opinionis that some small boy got hold of these fish in some way and dumped them onthe street," he said.

Problem solved, right? Only maybe, said Charles Fort. Hewrote to the Star and influenced and editor enough to print more informationthe following March. International newsservices carried the story of the remarkable fish fall and Fort felt he shouldaddress the phenomenon. He was unawarethat a local fisherman, one Robert Manning of Dundas (Ontario) had a bait pailfull of minnows in preparation to go ice fishing the next day. Because of the rainstorm, Mr Manningcancelled his trip and dumped the bucket of minnows. As they washed down the street in the rain,the theory is that they collected in a shallow spot, giving rise to the “puddleof dead minnows” on the street.

Fort wrote to the newspaper that he had documented over 200cases of living things falling from the sky. He further stated that some of these living things were species thatwere at the time unknown to science. Healso wrote:

"It may be that all bodies of water in Canada on Feb.27th were not all frozen solid, but certainly supplies of minnows were not veryavailable. This is the point on which I am seeking information.... It seemsincredible that the minnows of Dundas had origin anywhere in Canada, or couldhave been carried from some far southern point, without scattering. To mostminds it will seem incredible that the creatures dropped to the earth from abody of water somewhere in space beyond this earth, because interplanetaryspace is supposed to be intensely, if not absolutely, cold. I have many datathat indicated otherwise."

The story took on a life of its own and soon there were reports of dead minnows on third story window ledges. Various versions of the story appear on internet websites—without the perfectly reasonable explanation. Likely old Dundas, Ontario residents still tell their grandchildren yarns about the day it rained minnows.

Additional “raining” phenomena is addressed by Russianethnologist Waldemar Jochelson (1855-1937) in a letter to Science Magazine in1923. He tells of Russian lore regardingfish appearing as if gifts from God in lakes-which he explained to theSiberians were actually migrating fish as the lakes were connectedsubteranneally. Fish found in dry spotscould be explained by them simply getting caught when the water dried ordrained suddenly. Frozen tundra lakesmay freeze fish which then appear to have been dead then come alive again, aprocess called anabiosis. Jochelsonsuggested that these were the reasons the numbers of fish would occasionallysuddenly significantly increase. He alsotells of awakening in the Aleutians and finding a two foot layer of stunnedfish, urchins, and shellfish along the shore outside his cabin. This was, he said, likely caused by volcanicearthquakes. Birds of prey picked up thefish and carried them away. Locals andeven some scientists of the time claimed that because there are shells in thehills they are therefore former sea beds when a more logical answer might bethat the shells and bones found were left over from the carrion of theseshocks.

Contemporary author Michael Swanwick has a fish tale of his own. He writes of a flower pot imbedded in his garden that was home togoldfish and water lettuce. The numberof living (and dead) fish changes without any apparent spawning. In the comments his readers give their ideason how this happens—all sound, logical possibilities—but the basic mythsurvives. The inference is that some“outside force” beyond our understanding has influenced the fishes.

Sadly, this sort of thinking and lack of reasoning isrampant in what passes for the Fortean world currently. Too many people, influenced by what they seeon television or on the internet, accept the initial, albeit illogical, explanation. Too many don’t bother to think forthemselves, opting to instead let their minds be entertained by the fantasticrather than the true. It’s vastly morefun to believe that there are hundreds of chupacabras feasting on farm animalsacross the US (and, alas, even in Canada) than to educate ourselves. It’s better TV to promote that Mothman shootsradiation from his eyes (an edit was done on a tv show to make it appear Isuggested such a thing) than to allow ourselves to be simply astounded by themere idea of Mothman.

Sadly, serious researchers must spend way too much timechasing fish tales when they could be breaking ground in real ways.

http://www.resologist.net/art02.htm

http://www.strangeark.com/nabr/NABR18.pdf

http://www.nypl.org/archives/1485

Your Title Here

2011-11-27T10:03:00.001-08:00

Did you know you can contribute to this blog too? I always welcome "guest bloggers". Here are some guidelines:

Size doesn't really matter. We're more interested in content and clarity than length.

General interest zoology, biology, and other 'ologies are welcome. Just try to keep it in a relative Fortean Zoology/Cryptozoology scope. This study is multidisciplinary so there are lots of options.

Canadian references are helpful--Canada has just about every sort of known crypto links so it should be easy to find a reference

Cite your sources and add links of further value

Send to robin@triedit.net in plain text, pdf or word format.

If I use your submission, I will email you the link so you can share it with others. If I don't use your submission I will email you with some ideas on changes or a clear reason why I didn't find it appropriate.

You don't have to be a scientist or scholar! Why not write about your favorite Canadian Crypto Topic and see your name in print!

A cow pooed on the soccer field.

2011-11-27T09:55:00.001-08:00

OK this really isn’t about cows or poo-not really. It’s about deposing a witness. My 10 year old son came home from school andannounced that he saw a cow poo on the soccer field. Given that we live in a highly urban—evendensely populated—area, I found this highly unlikely. Yet like any good investigator I didn’tchallenge his report, I simply began asking questions.

Witnesses are the foundation of any study. It would be largely pointless to go sit insome random patch of woods in order to photograph Bigfoot if he has never beenseen there. Weird lumps in the wateraren’t Ogopogo until someone makes a report. Typically, we researchers are not the initial witnesses. This means we are highly dependent on whatpeople tell us in order to build an investigation. Because it all starts with a witness, it isimperative that we deal with them respectfully, honestly, and thoroughly.

Having respect for a witness is sometimes a bit of achallenge. In the case of the soccercow, my first instinct was to roll my eyes and disbelieve. Realistically though, he likely didn’t comeup with this story out of thin air. There had to have been a spark to it. If I didn’t know him, I would have to first assess if he is a crediblewitness. I would have conversations withhim, via email, phone, or in person, and through a series of discussions wouldget an idea of his creditability. I willadmit right here that I rarely do my own witness interviews—I have an associatewho does this for me because she is MUCH more tactful than I am! One of the steps in establishing credibilityis to be certain that the witness is not under the influence of drugs or amental illness. While I would likelyblurt out “Are you nuts?” or “Are you taking any medications?”, Tere wouldsubtly discover their mental state with a series of more benign questions. She would ask about how the day started, howit progressed, the events leading up to the discovery, what they had for lunch,if they skip breakfast regularly, andother questions that give an idea of the witness general health andlifestyle. She might make a trip to thewashroom and sneak a peek at the medicine cabinet, but you didn’t hear thatfrom me! In the entire interview,however, the witness must be taken at face value—they should never get thesense that you don’t take them seriously as this will prevent them from openingup to more information. They shouldnever get the impression that you are judging them either—who is going to workwith someone who is judging them?

The second step is to get the facts of the event, and tomake honest, albeit respectful, observations. In the case of my son, I asked “Did you actually see the cow?” and headmitted that he had only seen the poo, but said that others had seen thecow. Knowing that most elementary schoolchildren in urban Toronto have likely never SEEN a cow, this had mesuspicious. I told him honestly that Icouldn’t imagine how a cow could have wandered into the school soccerfield. I asked if there were specialprograms that day, or if any other unusual animals had been reported. They had not. So I moved on to questions about what he actually saw, which was a pileof poo. I asked for a very detaileddescription of what he saw, and asked him to sketch it. His description was that it was “like avolcano”. So I shared with him myknowledge of poo (and yes, unfortunately it is extensive) and that when cowsleave skat, it is generally flat like a cookie rather than tall like avolcano. You can use your skills andknowledge with your witnesses and their descriptions too—for instance, if yourwitness reports that the lake monster they saw had fur, you could tell themthat statistically the lake beings have smooth skin or scales. You would then talk about water animals thathave fur and see if known animals have similar other attributes to what it wasthat they saw. Do this respectfully—askthem to think and reason WITH you to ascertain the possibilities and refine thedescriptions that you are given. Thiswill not only help you focus your investigation, but also perhaps put them moreat ease with what they saw. I recentlywas involved in an investigation in Ohio where witnesses reported hearing awoman screaming in the woods. Nobody hadreported seeing a woman, or even an apparition, so the focus had to be on thesound. I asked about the neighbors, andthe neighborhood, and the general makeup of the community. The primary witness disclosed that on anearby farm there were peacocks. I sharedmy knowledge that pea hen makes asound very much like a woman screaming for help. Suddenly the phenomenon was not quite soFortean. Fortunately I was dealing witha witness who was open to explanation rather than someone certain the event wascryptic, and while I was hesitant to stamp this mystery “solved”, I told him Ifelt sure this was, at this point, the most likely explanation and thanked himfor his help in the research.

Finally, when dealing with a witness it is crucial to bethorough. My son and I visited the soccer field and photographed and observedthis “cow poo”. Had this been a moreserious investigation, I would have also taken samples for testing. I ruled out deer scat (deer poo in pellets)and considered that the pile came from a large dog. It was likely either canine or human, and I’dreally rather not think about the latter. When a witness claims a Sasquatch sighting, be just as thorough—find outthe weather, the flora and fauna, the time of day of the sighting. Visit the sight for other visual clues—brokenbranches, mashed grass, available food for such a creature. Look at the human and vehicular trafficpatterns. If your beast resides in alake, take water temperature and water samples. Learn about what “normal” creatures eat. Surround yourself with information so that you can make reasonableassessments.

All too often “researchers” take witness testimony at face value and stop there. The witness is looking for information so ifall a researcher does is feed back whatthe witness reports, then the witness gets no information. Thoroughly interview your witnesses and makethe effort to assess all the aspects. Sometimescow poo is dog doo.

Read More: (the bottom two links are very helpful)

http://www.junglewalk.com/popup.asp?type=a&AnimalAudioID=3455

http://ohtheplacesyoullgoireland.blogspot.com/2011/03/cow-poo.html

http://www.jamespublishing.com/articles_forms/civillitigation/deposing_expert_witness.htm

http://jamescivillitigation.wordpress.com/2009/06/09/deposing-the-forgetful-witness/

Ontario Goes Cuckoo

2011-11-16T10:24:00.000-08:00

Breakfast Television, CityTV Toronto’s popular morning show, has caused yet another stir in Ontario. When locals “discovered an alligator” in a local pond, CityTV and BT made it news. Now they’re at it again, and the possibility of an odd creature in Ontario has got people talking. In a casual conversation, host Kevin Frankish mentioned that there “have been roadrunners sighted in Ontario.” In the few hours since, I have received more than a dozen emails asking if this is true. The simple answer is…maybe.

Three years ago, two men who live on the Bruce Peninsula reported seeing a Greater Roadrunner. One of the men is a Texas native and well familiar with roadrunners. It seems unlikely that his visual record would be wrong. The greater roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) is an essentially flightless bird. It has wings, but they are weak and render this species of cuckoo virtually grounded. They live and breed in the southern US and Mexico build platform nests in the brush and on cactus. Roadrunners do not migrate and need little water. They eat fruit, insects, seeds, and small reptiles and it kills the larger prey by a swift blow of its beak to the back of the neck, or by holding the prey in its beak and bashing it against rocks. It stands about a foot tall, with a body that is brown with black streaks and sometimes pink dots. Its breast is tan or white, as is its belly, and its crest is mostly brown. Both males and females have a patch of bare skin behind each eye which is orange and blue in the female and orange and white in the male. They have four toes on each foot, two forward and two back, and from beak to tail’s end, the bird is about two feet long, half of which is tail.would be wrong. The second man spotted a roadrunner nearly 20km away within 24 hours of the first sighting, Given that these birds can run up to 42 km per hour it is possible that this was the same bird.

Researchers suggest that the actual bird sighted was not a roadrunner. One researcher suggested that it was” a partridge” which is what the locals call the Spruce Grouse. Ruffled Grouse are also plentiful in Ontario and the suggestion was made that this explained the sighting. Ontario is home to the Black Billed Cuckoo, a relative of the roadrunner but very much smaller, so it is possible that this bird was one of those. By virtue of the bird running a fair distance on the ground and not “ducking” its head as it did so implies that it was not one of these regular Ontario bird species. Several comparison photos are below to let you make your own decision. Since Ontario gets regular shipments of food from Mexico and the southern US, it is plausible that this bird caught a ride and ended up in the colder climate by mistake.

Spruce Grouse

Photo: http://www.nt.net/~getin/Virginiatown_Kearns/spruce_grouse_partridge.html

Greater Roadrunner

Photo: http://thejunglestore.blogspot.com/2011/07/meet-real-roadrunner.html

Black-billed Cuckoo

Photo: http://www.ofo.ca/photoalbums/checklist/Cuckoos_Anis/Black-billed%20Cuckoo/slides/SB_BLACK_BILLED_CUCKOO.htmlm

I spoke with the Ministry of Natural Resources in both the Bruce County area and near Peterborough and they have no reports of roadrunners in Ontario. Biologists havesaid the harsh winter climate would be deadly to the species, and an abundance of predatory mammals would make survival even more difficult.

Nobody is calling the witnesses cuckoo, but we do suggest that maybe the bird sighted wasn’t one either.

Ogopogo Pogo

2011-11-10T13:25:00.000-08:00

Is it Ogo? Is it not? Is it Ogo? Is it not? Recently a BC gentleman named Richard Huls taped something in the water at Lake Okanagan in BC. The national news media, then the international news media, immediately ran with the story that he had seen the famous lake monster.

The problem is, that isn’t what he said. Mr. Huls claimed only to have taped/photographed SOMEthing in the water that he felt certain was not a simple wave. One source claims the video has over 200,000 views on YouTube, but I was unable to substantiate that. It was, however, featured on the top rated morning show Good Morning America. MSNBC proclaimed Huls was offering “proof” of Ogopogo. Mr. Huls actually said, however, that he had a recording that showed something living in the water—something large that did not parallel the waves—and that he believes in the existence of the lake monster. Those are very different statements. I applaud Mr Huls for his open mind and careful words; not so much praise for media outlets who sensationalize and take great liberty with quotes.

The best film of the probable creature is actually one shot in 1968 by Arthur Folden. The Huls video is problematic for several reasons, not the least of which is its poor quality. As skepdebunker Ben Radford notes, at about the 39 second point, the film seems to show two objects rather than one, floating just below the water. Realistically, this could be just an example of some of the thousands of logs in the Lake. On the other hand, a marathon swimmer claimed that in 2000 two large creatures swam with him in the lake. The lake has been searched and no concrete evidence has surfaced. Witnesses still continue to report the 40+ foot long serpent.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45197887/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.Trw6YUMr2so

http://www.globaltvbc.com/video+possible+ogopogo+video+catches+the+eye+of+international+media/6442518541/story.html

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-buzz/b-c-man-believes-video-proves-existence-ogopogo-152803810.html

http://abcnews.go.com/International/video/canada-lake-creature-ogopogo-possibly-caught-on-tape-14916291

http://youtu.be/YsuMDVmoM7c

Bobbing for Bessie

2011-11-05T19:56:00.000-07:00

Deep in the waters of Lake Erie there may be a friendly giant commonly called “Bessie”. The first recorded sighting occurred in 1793 and she (or her offspring) continues to make waves in the area.

The 1793 sighting, from near Sandusky, Ohio, came from the captain of the sloop Felicity. This ship was built in Michigan in 1774 and had a crew of six men. She carried two swivel guns and belonged to His Majesty George III. The captain was shooting ducks and sighted what he described as a large snake, more than 16 feet long. Three more sightings came in from ships in 1817, and the water snake was reported to be copper in color and up to 30 feet long. At one point muskets were fired at “Bessie” with no visible effect. The third sighting was by two brothers named Dusseau and occurred near Toledo, Ohio, on the far western shores of Lake Erie. They claimed to have come across a creature between 20 and 30 feet long, writhing on the beach. They described it as looking like a large sturgeon with arms. The brothers fled the area and when they returned the animal was gone, presumably reclaimed by the waves. What was left on the beach they described as scales about the size of silver dollars.

In 1892, the entire crew of a ship witnessed rough water about half a mile ahead while en route from Buffalo, NY to Toledo, OH. When they came up on the waves, they described “viciously sparkling eyes on a creature that was 50 feet long and 4 feet in circumference. Four years later, at Crystal Beach near Fort Erie, Ontario, four witnesses reported watching a creature with a head like a dog for about 45 minutes before it disappeared into the lake near nightfall. Reports continue through the decades, and as early as last summer (2011) reports continue to come in from reliable, sane people.

(photo from 1993 Weekly World Report)

What is Bessie? Certainly she lives in local legend, and many stories may have little basis in fact. Witness testimony, however, cannot be discounted in many reports. In 1969, a gentleman named Jim Schindler came within 6 feet of the creature near South Bass Island. In 1989, something was captured by sonar that was about 35 feet long and cigar shaped, swimming about 30 feet down. She has been reported looking like a snake, a sturgeon, and even a porpoise. Some descriptions say her mouth forms a grin, which would be similar to a bottle-nose whale. A whale in Lake Erie is unlikely though, and porpoises are not fresh water animals. Seals and otters have been documented in nearby Lake Ontario and there is access between the lakes so technically, it is possible for them to be in Lake Erie. Neither animal grows to the size reported; in fact they are nothing like a snake in shape.

There is one report of an injury. In 2001 near Port Dover, a woman was bitten and a six inch set of puncture wounds was documented. It is likely that this is from a bowfin, who are known to protect their nests quite aggressively. Given that Bessie is reported to be huge, certainly the victim would have seen her attacker as she was swimming in quite shallow water. Dr. Harold Hynscht, who treated the wounds from this victim and two others a few days later, said he had no idea what would have made the marks even though he was an experienced diver and was familiar with local aquatics. With the upper and lower bites 6 inches apart, the mouth would have to be quite large.

What is most disturbing, however, is the rapid decline of the health of Lake Erie. Since the 1990s, the lake has become infested with a poisonous algae, causing significant decline in the oxygen in the water. Local fish are dying and invasive mussel species are increasing, and agricultural pollutants are problematic. Lake Erie is home to 50 percent of the fish in the Great Lakes, even though it contains only 2 per cent of the water. What was once a rich feeding ground for Bessie is quickly becoming toxic and barren. Additionally, the water level in Lake Erie is declining, due in part to increased shoreline projects to accommodate commercial ventures in the western basin. Pollutants and declining water levels also increase the overall temperature of the lake, so if Bessie is a cold water creature this could put her in even more peril.

Here’s hoping the lake can sustain her until she can be scientifically studied.

Further reading:

http://www.pure-michigan.com/wyandotte/16.php

History of Detroit and Wayne County and early Michigan, By Silas Farmer, ISBN-10: 0810333260

http://forteanzoology.blogspot.com/2010_01_20_archive.html

http://www.psican.org/alpha/index.php?/2008072990/Cryptozoology/Port-Weller-Creature-Sighting-Lake-Ontario.html

http://www.eriewaves.com/does-lake-erie-have-its-own-loch-ness-monster/

http://www.americanmonsters.com/site/2009/12/lake-erie-chomper-canada/comment-page-1/

http://www.lakescientist.com/2011/lake-erie%E2%80%99s-ecosystem-declining-due-to-poisonous-algae

http://www.epa.gov/med/grosseile_site/indicators/waterlevels.html

Working 9 to 5

2011-11-01T14:31:00.001-07:00

Many apologies for the absence of late, sometimes life gets in the way. That's what this blog is about.

Cryptozoology takes a lot of hard knocks. Often called "pseudoscience", those of us who practice actual research would appear to the disbelievers as time wasters. To them, we do nothing all day except sit and read fiction and perhaps generate fiction because, after all, "monsters" couldn't be real--our parents said so at age 5. This bleeds over to the never-ending search for support in the academic community as well. Would it kill them to run a few DNA tests at the local university? Could the PhD's not even consider that our (usually non-PhD) work could maybe, possibly, perhaps actually have some merit? Could philanthropic folks with a genuine interest not rise above their shame and make a public contribution? Oh were are the Tom Slick's of this generation? Lack of funding and respect ultimately means that those of us with a passion for the study of unknown (unproven?) creatures have to fall back on a "day job". I am fortunate that my "day job" is actually paranormal study--I get to research, publish, consult, and investigate and get paid for it; hence my absence over Halloween. I was working.

Even though I am paid well, I don't work a standard 40 hour workweek. During the Halloween season (which the media seems to think is the only time ghosts appear) I do really well financially. The other 11 months of the year, I'm happy to get 10 paid hours a week. It's not a living wage. Thankfully, I have a spouse who makes enough to support the family and my income is only supplemental. Every couple of years I give birth to a new book which means a little more in the kitty, but generally I just reinvest that into equipment and future books. I'm a slave to my "hobby"--paranormal research.

Sadly this is the case for most of us in Cryptozoology. Even Loren Coleman, probably the most prolific writer on the subject right now, has a "day job" throughout most of his career as a Cryptozoologist. Like many others, he teaches and lectures, and maintains the International Cryptozoology Museum in Maine. Dr. Karl Shuker, Britain's version of Loren (said with a grin, of course!) is equally prolific and respected yet even on his Facebook page he lists himself as a "Zoologist, Media Consultant, and Author" rather than "Cryptozoologist. John Green of B.C., aka Mr Sasquatch, was/is a journalist. The other three of the "Four Horesmen of Sasquatchery", Rene Dahinde, Grover, Krantz, and Peter Byrne are all either dead or aging. Is the era of "professional research" going by the wayside?

We who seek knowledge in Cryptozoology are starting to lose our role models. Huelvemans, Keel, Krantz and so many other leave behind some very big shoes to fill. Can we fill them if we are tied to income producing positions outside the field? Have the pseudo-skeptics killed all hope of achieving the respect that this research garnered in the 1950's and 60's?

http://www.cryptomundo.com/lorencoleman/

http://www.facebook.com/karl.shuker

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Willison_Green

http://sasquatch-bc.com/dahinden.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover_Krantz

Newfoundland and Labrador Cryptids

2011-10-15T17:59:00.000-07:00

The Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador encompasses a total area of 405,212 square kilometres (156,453 square miles) yet has a population of only about half a million people. Its capital city of St. John’s lies on the same latitude as Seattle, Washington and Paris, France, but the temperatures can range from a balmy 20C to a frigid -18C. First inhabited about 9000 years ago, Europeans arrived about 1000AD. These Vikings didn’t stay, however, and it wasn’t until the 15^th century that regular inhabitants graced this pristine environment. Until 1949, Newfoundland was a colony of England, so it is one of Canada’s newer provinces. Made up of vast coastline, thick boreal forest, dense barrens, and ancient rock formations, the area is a great place for spotting whales, seabirds, icebergs, and occasionally, something even more fantastic.

Giant Turtles

Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland is home to a giant turtle, claims Bob Crewe. He came upon this creature while looking at the ocean from a cliff. "I saw its body in the water measuring about 30 feet across, just lying there and moving slightly," said Crewe. Although his sighting took place near a local attraction called the Viking (an ancient rock formation) Crewe is certain what he saw was a giant turtle. Other giant turtles in the area are white ones . These creatures are described as being about 50 feet long. Besides their pure white skin, they have big tusks, four inches in diameter and about three feet long.

Labrador’s Nennorluk

Nennok is the Inuit name for what we call the polar bear, and the suffix “luk” indicates it is evil. This would imply that the Nennorluk is an evil polar bear, but alas

, it is “simply” a ferocious amphibious creature reported as far back as 1773. Similar creatures are said to inhabit nearby Greenland. It is said to feast on seals and have ears big enough to cover a tent. It comes from the sea, but is reported to come ashore at will. Reports from August 1786 near the town of Okak claim the thing is as tall as an iceberg. The legend is that it does not swim, but rather walks on the bottom of the ocean. It is white on its back like a polar bear but big enough to turn over large rocks with a thunderous noise. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, on his way back from claiming the New Found Land for Queen Elizabeth and Britain in 1583, is said to have stared into the glaring eyes of a lion-like sea monster. The Canadian government forced the last remaining townspeople from Okak in 1956. Perhaps it is for the best.

The Real Deal

Once thought to be the subject only of myth and legend, real specimens of Architeuthidae (Giant Squid) have been well documented in the Atlantic near Newfoundland. They live in the deep and grow to about 43 feet long, just shy of the size of the Colossal Squid which grows to 46 feet. The tentacles of this monster can grow to 16 feet. In 1877, a near perfect Giant Squid washed ashore alive in Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. Nightmares of the deep can come true.

Giant Eels

Crescent Lake, Newfoundland is home to a scary creature known as a giant eel. Underwater workers were repairing a dock when they discovered dozens of the eels, each over eight feet long and bigger around than a man’s thigh. Locals call the eels “Cressie” with a nod toward Loch Ness’s “Nessie”. Eels are generally migratory, but these whoppers stay put, landlocked in the lake. Inability to leave and come back is generally thought to be the reason they can grow so large.

A Newfoundland Bigfoot?

An account of a bigfoot-like cryptid from the 1930s comes from a man who sold bootleg rum. As he was recovering some buried bottles in his back garden, in the dark, he saw a very bright white light coming toward him. It was so bright he could not look at it directly. As it got closer it started to dim until he could make out that the light was coming from the eyes of something over 6 feet tall, covered in black hair about an inch long. The man hurried home and the next day he returned to the spot to again try to dig up his bottle. Again, the beast appeared and the fellow abandoned his quest. Legend is that this experience inspired him to give up bootlegging and go into legitimate business. Was this a Sasquatch or some sort of alien? Or was it a little too much of his own stock?

A more credible account comes from Labrador in the 1947. While visiting New York City in 1930, a Labrador doctor and his wife told of trappers who found barefoot tracks in the snow and nests under trees. The beings are said to be “wily” and able to climb easily over large stumps and other obstacles.

Globster

It freaked folks out when it first arrived, but eventually the blob was identified. Many of these organic masses have washed ashore along Newfoundland’s coast and are distinguished from normal beached carcases because they have no visible eyes, no defined head and no bone structure. It wins the moniker “globster” when it is unidentifiable by the general public and a controversy ensues. Generally, these globsters are the remains of sperm whales, large sharks, or giant squid.

Giant Beaver

Canadians are proud of their beavers, but in Labrador they can get REALLY big. Sightings have come in of the animal by witnesses who claim it weighs up to 700 pounds, nearly ten times the size of a normal beaver even on a good day. The sightings may have some merit though-fossil evidence from the Pleistocene era of beaver thought to be at least that big. Native Canadians in Labrador have named a river “Montagnais-Naskapi” which translates to “Giant Beaver River”.

Too often overlooked as a great place to do cryptozoological field work, Newfoundland and Labrador may just be the best place to study just about any creature you fancy.

More information

http://www.thetelegram.com/Opinion/Columns/2007-07-16/article-1462017/A-Newfoundland-bigfoot%3F/1

http://www.anomalist.com/features/topcz2000.html

http://www.newanimal.org/gturtle.htm

http://www.hauntedamericatours.com/museum/ODDITIEScryptids.htm

http://www.angelfire.com/bc2/cryptodominion/fish.html

http://cryptozoologycryptids.wikia.com/wiki/Globster

http://www.newanimal.org/giant-animals.htm

http://cryptoreports.com/newfoundland-and-labrador-sea-monsters

http://www.strangeark.com/nabr/NABR16.pdf

http://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/

Manitoba Monsters

2011-10-09T16:24:00.000-07:00

The Canadian province of Manitoba is home to many different kinds of cryptids. In fact, the very term “cryptid” was coined by a Manitoban name John Wall in a letter he wrote to the International Cryptozoology Society in 1993. This province is a wonderland for cryptids; there are vast areas of woodland (264,000 km²), many lakes (110,000 of them, many deep glacial lakes) and a population that is sparse and widely scattered. There are hills and prairies, swamps and rivers, and flora and fauna of all sorts.

Fortunately for cryptozoologists, there is also a significant history of reports, thanks to a diverse aboriginal population. Ancient reports of serpentine creatures in the lakes, especially Lake Winnipeg, tell of a shriek let out by the monster that modern inhabitants liken to a train whistle. The hairy man we call Sasquatch is also quite prevalent. Natives report Last winter, I spoke with Archie Motkaluk who sighted Sasquatch in 1969 in Renwer, north of Winnipeg. It was a rare daylight sighting and left a permanent impression on Archie, who was but a young man at the time. Manitoba even has prevalent reports of Wendigo, a native entity similar to a werewolf or vampire.

In the late 1800’s a significant group of Icelanders immigrated to Manitoba. Although many continued to migrate south due to harsh winters, some remained, and their offspring are still in the area. With the Icelanders came stories of fairies, elves and trolls. They are thought to live under rocks and mushrooms, and reports come in from workers in lumber camps.

In the air, Manitoba is part of the Thunderbird migration pattern. In addition to the classic southwest are, these ancient birds traverse at roughly the boundary between the US and Canada, from the Pacific Northwest through the Great Lakes region. Many pictographs of Thunderbirds are present in Manitoba., although few modern reports exist.

One of the challenges in cryptozoology is separating the UFO reports from the Cryptozoology reports. A classic example is a report from St Laurent, MB (a largely Metis community). Two young men were badly frightened by a three foot creature with a protruding jaw full of teeth. The same night, a second sighting by an adult male came in from a nearby area. Although there were reports of red and green flashing lights, it is significant to also note that local chickens and cats have been disappearing in large numbers.

Unfortunately, Manitobans tend to be rather tight lipped about their monsters. I strongly encourage anyone with a sighting to email me at robin@triedit.net

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manitoba

http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/cryptid/

http://ronwiebe.suite101.com/manipogo-sasquatch-and-wendigo--manitoba-monsters-a326005

http://www.psican.org/alpha/index.php?/20110206542/Cryptozoology-News-Articles-Investigations/Renwar-Manitoba-Bigfoot-Encounter.html

http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Ha-La/Icelandic-Americans.html

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0007998

http://www.rense.com/general42/strange.htm

Can You Satiate The Pseudo Sceptics?

2011-10-02T18:29:00.000-07:00

by guest blogger Matthew J Didier, PSICAN

I cannot lie... I was going to write a rather questionable post denying the existence of a person named Antonietta Pasqualicca, age 16... and I ended up deleting it.

I went into great lengths to describe her as obviously fiction as I had no body, no DNA, no evidence save some questionable documents and vague witness testimony, yada, yada, yada... and then reveal that she was a victim of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

It was too much... because, indeed, I used all the language and terminology by those who frequently blast the concept of cryptozoology as ridiculous... and noting how the same arguments did work on this poor girl thus "proving" she didn't exist.

I assure everyone reading, she did exist... and the tragedy she suffered in was horrible... and I apologise for even using what I have here to "illustrate" my point... because I wish I could find something better... and I'm glad I toned down my missive.

Basically, when I look into much of cryptozoology, I'm reminded of what the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer once said... "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." Overwhelmingly I find myself, when looking into the study of strange creatures, hearing about how people are wasting their time over silly things... until something like a Okapi turns up or the discovery of the fossil of Homo floresiensis and then... what do we hear from those so-called sceptics?

Do we hear, "Hmm. Perhaps we should keep looking into these things." or even "Well, that puts things in a new light!"

No.

What we usually hear is how THOSE instances are rare and obviously self evident... and those looking into odd sighting of strange creatures are still effectively laughable "woo-woos" to use the vernacular of the pseudo-sceptics.

The question then is... How much evidence or "proof" do these people require to remove their imposed stigma on these topics?

Long ago, I put the question to (then) chair of Skeptics Canada, Eric McMillan, and he said something rather interesting...

Any proof or evidence is enough. Any evidence to support a claim is viable proof.

...apparently, outside of witness testimony, mind you. (Granted, one must allow for the clouding of perception with testimony, but it still stands.)

Basically, the demand is for empirical evidence... and yes, that's a good thing and a worthy goal... and what most cryptozoologist, be they researchers or "in the field" investigators, are aiming for.

However, let's say someone produces a living (or corpse of a) Sasquatch and it's examined and looked over by a reliable and accredited university. What do you believe the pseudo-sceptics would do or say?

My personal belief, based on past experience, would be deafening silence... followed by a litany of "reasons" why THIS creature and this evidence couldn't POSSIBLY be what we were looking for because of {fill in this space for whatever you need... Wrong location? Wrong colour? Wrong size? Wrong diet? Odd DNA?} and that indeed, cryptozoologists are still "woo-woos"... because REAL zoologists have saved the day!

Don't believe me? I have some wonderful articles from so-called (big named) sceptical circles absolutely laughing at the hypothesis of panspermia... who did a one-eighty when NASA found evidence to support the hypothesis.

My point of all of this is simple. If you're sceptical of these things, think hard, are you a sceptic, or a non-believer? The latter will never accept anything as evidence and never concede, even in the face of hard data, that perhaps some of these mysterious sighted creatures exist.

If you're a cryptozoologist, either in the field or the library, don't waste your time, energy, or treasure on non-believers. They have a faith and you will never shake them from it.

The true (doubting) sceptics, however, might be helpful in simply answering one question...

What is required to make this field of study more than just something some people giggle at?

Like I said, the non-believers will always blurt out about "Extraordinary Claims" and "Extraordinary Evidence"... the real sceptical person will simply say any claim requires evidence, but a hypothesis can be entertained without mockery.

Do those that believe in Cryptids really suffer from psychological disorders?

2011-09-25T11:00:00.000-07:00

Stephen Turnbull
PSICAN/CFZ-Canada

People are often ridiculed for reporting that they have seen some mysterious creature, especially if it is referred to as a lake monster or sea serpent. Often this fear of ridicule prevents it from being reporting in the first place. Some scientists, as well as many others, are quick to try to explain it as a misidentification of a known animal species or perhaps some inanimate object. Granted, many sightings turn out to be just that, but some remain a mystery.

In some cases however, the reports end up being authentic! Many animals have been so shrouded in myths and legends that it was hard to believe that they existed. A classic example is that of the mythical Pongo, a shape-shifting creature that preyed upon villagers in Africa. Eventually this creature was identified as a gorilla! Scientist also dismissed the possibility that an animal striped like a zebra and looked like a giraffe could exist, despite the evidence of skins. Eventually a living okapi was photographed!

What is it that draws people to the belief in cryptids and the desire to push through all the ridicule and pursue them, to separate fact from fiction? And what is it about the witnesses that convince them what they have seen is real, and the fact that they often provide a very detailed description?

Researchers from California State University tried to answer questions such as these. Sharps et al. (2006) stated that certain individuals still have ancient hunting/gathering cognitive aspects in them which make them more susceptible to belief in such things as cryptids. Their findings indicated that those that believed in cryptids (and other paranormal activity for that matter) have a tendency toward ADHD, depression, and dissociation. Sharps et al. also state that people with these tendencies may interpret sensory information in cryptozoological terms and report seeing Bigfoot rather than a bear in certain situations. .

It is possible that some purposely go into areas where there are a high numbers of sightings of a creature (i.e. Bigfoot, Nessie) and hope to see it. In this case shadows, other animals, and inanimate objects such as a huge wave may take the shape of this creature. This may be a case of, “If you believe in it, you will see it?” As Sharps et al. reported that the information an individual has prior to an event has an impact on the memory and interpretation of that event. This relates not only to interpreting Bigfoot instead of a bear, but it is also a problem with crime scene witnesses.

Sharps et al. (2006) did add a disclaimer, likely to ward off nasty comments from cryptozoologists, that they would not expect all those that have cryptozoological beliefs to have these tendencies. Some may simply arrive at these beliefs through other aspects such as personal experiences or environmental influences.

I have only touched on the study but there are few things that should be addressed. First, their sample size had many more women than men. Other studies indicate women are not as skeptical as men therefore this may have skewed their results. Other studies indicate race and religion also played an important part in the belief of cryptids (those that have strong religious beliefs tend not to believe in cryptids; see the Baylor University study (2005) at the link below.

The authors also included a caveat that it is possible for unknown animals to still exist and give the examples of the okapi and coelacanth. However, the study by Sharps et al. and the Baylor University study, had questions that only referenced creatures such as Bigfoot and Nessie, not animals such as the okapi. Had they included animals such as the okapi and coelacanth, perhaps their results might have been different.

The bottom line, it is definitely not as clear-cut as Sharps et al. (2006) indicate. Certainly, some people that believe in Bigfoot and Nessie (and other creatures) may have these tendencies. What about those researchers that push through the myths and legends and discover new species? Do they suffer from these disorders? Possibly, but my question is, “Do the skeptics also suffer from similar disorders?”

Suggested Readings:

Sharps, M., J. Matthews and J. Sten. 2006. The Journal of Psychology. 140(6) 579-590
Cognition and Belief in Paranormal Phenomena: Gestalt/Feature Intensive Processing Theory and Tendencies Toward ADHD, Depression, and Dissociation.

http://www.thearda.com/includes/crosstabs.asp?file=BRS2005&v=377&v2=390&p=1&s=on

Prairie Sea Monsters

2011-09-18T17:42:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, the large amount of land that includes Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and parts of Ontario, North Dakota and Minnesota was home to a massive sea. In the sea lived monsters with heads like horses and bodies as long as twelve meters. These monsters moved slowly but could manoeuvre through small spaces and surprise the fish that would become dinner. Sound like a fairy tale? It’s all true.

During the Pleistocene Epoch (1,600,000 to 10,000 years ago) during the last two phases of the Wisconsin Glacial Age, when the Laurentide Ice Sheet blocked the drainage of the northern Great Plains into what is today Hudson Bay, most of the area outlined above was under water; under the great sea called Lake Aggazi. In this huge lake were Plesiosaurs and other large prehistoric marine animals. Eventually, this massive sea drained east through Lake Superior, north through Hudson’s Bay and south through the Red and Minnesota Rivers. What was left, besides fertile farmland, is still being discovered.

Several important lakes are remnants of Lake Aggazi. Lake Winnipeg, Lake Manitoba, Lake of the Woods, and dozens of smaller lakes remain and the plains and river systems are all borne of this huge lake. Toward the end of the glacial era, the lake drained very rapidly, perhaps even in a period as short as a year. There is evidence of human cultures in the area as well, and many of their oral histories are still passed down through local aboriginals.

Most of these ancient lakes have something in common besides origin. All of the remaining lakes of any significant size and depth have associated reports of lake monsters dating back to these early native histories and still coming in every modern year. Many of the names of the lakes are based on the creatures seen in the lake. Turtle Lake (Saskatchewan) is so named for the “Giant Turtle” believed to live there. If such a creature exists, it would likely be a plesiosaur, as fossils of the large beast are found in the area. The food supply in these lakes remains much the same—34 of Manitoba’s 86 known fish species were evident in Lake Aggazi. If these reported sightings are actually plesiosaurs, the logic supports that theory. The lakes are big enough, deep enough, and stocked well enough to support the animals that were there ten thousand years ago.

Manipogo, Winnipogo, Woodsie, and the “monsters” of Turtle Lake, Big Trout Lake, Reindeer Lake, Dore Lake and dozens of others in the Canadian prairies are still regularly reported. Even at the relatively small Turtle Lake northwest of Saskatoon, there is at least one sighting every year and hundreds of years of native lore about the creature that will eat people in the lake. Could these hundreds of witnesses be imagining these things? It’s not likely, at least not all of them. Could it be a large sturgeon? Perhaps, but sturgeon, although they can grow to 5 meters in some cases and appear thin and scale-less, lack the ability to move in the way the reported mystery monsters move. Allopleurons and other Giant Sea Turtles were also in Agazzi, but none are thought to remain in the area.

Could the Canadian Prairie Lake Monsters be plesiosaurs or their modern cousins? It seems to be a logical answer, or at least as logical as the theory of giant sturgeon.

Exploring the Wendigo as a Cryptid

2011-09-10T07:50:00.000-07:00

Many of the legends of Canada come from aboriginal culture. All things considered, Canada is a fairly young country with vast regions still unexplored, let alone inhabited. Canada’s whole population (about 34.2 million people) is roughly the same as the single city of Mumbai, India. First Nations , Metis, and Inuit history is a vital part of Canada as a whole, and crucial to the exploration of cryptozoology in the “Great White North”.

Aboriginals are deeply spiritual people. They believe that everything is intertwined; that you cannot have body without spirit, you cannot have water without air, etc. There is a fundamental connectedness. All things in life are connected to Mother Earth. This is a special consideration when dealing with Canadian cryptids—finding not only the physical connection to mother earth but also understanding the spiritual connected and meaning in each cryptid. It is therefore necessary to investigate the Wendigo as both a biological being and a spirit. This defies the logic of groups who see cryptids as purely zoological entities. The counter argument is that humans are not purely zoological entities and it is grandiose to assume that there are no other thinking/emoting entities besides humans. To study cryptids without thought to their psychology or special abilities would be a mistake.

Enter the Wendigo. Wendigos are ancient beings based in Algonquian native lore, primarily in Cree and Ojibwa cultures. Physical description does vary somewhat. Generally these creatures are feared; they are said to be greedy, cannibalistic, and never satisfied. Like the Vampire and Werewolf legends, “regular” people could be changed into a Wendigo by contact in some way. Generally the person would begin to eat flesh. A psychosis has been identified that is considered “culture bound”—persons who grow up with this legend believe they are turning into Wendigos after a period of starvation. These days starvation rarely occurs, but if the person believes he is starving and starts to consider eating human flesh, it may be accompanied by the thought that they are turning into a Wendigo. This psychosis is not just neurological—the victims actually crave flesh as one would crave a glass of milk or a meal in general.

Likewise, Wendigo cannot be investigated as just an unusual animal. The entomology of the word itself probably relates to the Proto-Algonquian word for “owl”. This is hard to associate, as the Wendigo is seen as a skeletal figure of a man. Over time and with the introduction of Western cultures, the physical description of a Wendigo has changed somewhat. While always depicted as tall and boney, more recent descriptions have added a foul odour and glowing red eyes. This makes the Wendigo sound more like a zombie than the original flesh-eating humanlike monster.
From a Cryptid point of view, the Wendigo is hominid at the very least, as he walks upright and is humanoid as it appears to have human shape and function. US Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman refers to a Wendigo as a an “Eastern Bigfoot” but there are distinct differences—first, Wendigo is not known to be covered in hair or fir, and second, there is certainly no evidence that Bigfoot eats people. Generally, a Wendigo is thought to be a human body that has been “stepped into” or possessed by a Windego spirit after considering cannibalism as a means to end extreme hunger. Note that like Vampires, the Wendigo only has to bite the victim, not actually devour any flresh. Technically, this would make the entity a human. As such, the only way to rid the person of Wendigo tendencies would be to kill them and burn the body. Once bitten and “changed” the body begins to morph into skeletal, grey skinned and elongated shape setting the subject apart from “normal” humans.

A Wendigo allegedly made a number of appearances near a town called Rosesu in Northern Minnesota from the late 1800's through the 1920's. Each time that it was reported, an unexpected death followed. In Southern Ontario in 1997 a suspected Wendigo was sighted by an American trucker near St Catherines.

Wendigo reports generally happen in winter, usually at night. These creatures are considered malevolent and predatory. Aside from the ability to turn others into Wendigos, they do not appear to have any supernatural power or shape shifting capability. These qualities seem to direct us to research them as cryptids-and to do so well protected!

Photo Credit: Skeleton Man (Movie,2004)

Further Reading:
http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection/JS62-80-1998E.pdf
http://science.discovery.com/top-ten/2009/mental-disorders/mental-disorders-4.html
Brightman, Robert A. (1988). "The Windigo in the Material World". Ethnohistory 35 (4): 337–379.
http://www.unknown-creatures.com/wendigo.html
http://www.eso-garden.com/specials/handbook_of_native_american_mythology.pdf
http://www.wyrdology.com/cryptozoology/wendigo.html
http://www.prairieghosts.com/wendigo.html
http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/sightings-2-2010/
http://dinojoe.8m.com/crypto/windigo.html

Monsters don’t live in your closet. They live in your backyard.

2011-08-30T05:55:00.000-07:00

Markham Ontario is not really a suburb of Toronto—it is a city in its own right that lies across the top of Ontario’s largest city. It is home to over a quarter million people as well as businesses like IBM, American Express, and Johnson & Johnson. Settled by American Germans in 1792, it’s habitation by humans grew from the initial 64 families to a primarily Oriental population in its current makeup. The area has evolved from native hunting grounds through agriculture and into tertiary industry.

Within Markham is the 305 acre Milne Dam Conservation Park. The park is lush with vegetation and the Rouge River flows through it, providing fish plentiful enough to support both wildlife and sport fishing. Nicholas Miller purchased the area from a Daniel Cozens who had received the land from the British Crown. The original 200 acres sold for 100 British pounds. Miller, one of the earliest recorded settlers in the area, had already been granted another lot upon his arrival in the Township in 1793, but chose to construct his saw and grist mill on the Rouge River site, largely because of the availability of water power. The property changed hands several times before Peter and Alexander Milne purchased it in 1824. The mill was close to the present site of the Milne Dam and from this mill and its additional fulling mill, woollen mill, ashery and General Store, the town of Markham was born.

The mill was destroyed by fire in 1866. Peter's grandsons, Grant and Archie, rebuilt the gristmill and operated the site until 1933. Near the turn of the 20th century, they produced a famous breakfast cereal call "Wheateen". In 1911, Archie built the first concrete and steel arc dam in Canada on this site. He believed this dam could generate the power for the village but the dam was washed out in 1929 and again in 1954 when Hurricane Hazel hit the area.
The park is nearly surrounded by single family homes, especially on its north and west sides. Fingers of parkland separate cul-de-sacs in several places. In one of these areas, a nightmare lurks. In December 2001, with snow significant on the ground, a couple experienced something that to this day remains unexplained. New to Canada, one

of the witnesses assumed what they saw was a bear—it was dark, stood on two legs, and seemed quite tall. What is now known as “The Markham Monster” was too thin to be a bear.

From the witness:
“ -it's body was svelte--narrower than an ape would be across the shoulders and torso. It was solid as opposed to an apparition, and walked entirely upright with casual stride. If it was human it would be unusually large-at least 6.5 feet but probably closer to 7 or even more. It had a distinct neck area and was able to rotate it's head toward

us clearly. If it was clothed, the clothing was formfitting and not bulky.”

It uttered a deep growl that was more felt than heard. Most significant was the intense fear felt, even in the safety of a car. The couple quickly left. Discovering through further research that bears were unlikely in that area, especially in midwinter, the couple returned several times to try to capture the creature on film with no success. Four years later they encountered this thing in a similar location. This time they were exploring a new housing development in the Stouffville Road area, considerably west and north of the Milne Dam. The area shared some of the same qualities—a housing development bordering on a conservation area through which the Rouge River flows. It is also technically in Markham, although in the Richmond Hill area. This time, the thing rose up slightly in a snow drift and looked directly at the couple with red-orange eyes, possibly reflecting the car headlights. Terrified, the couple left.

When researchers returned to the Stouffville area, the sensation of something present and the intense fear were still present. The couple no longer explores these sorts of areas. Theories abound, but the logical ones are that the creature, whatever it is, probably travels the Rouge Valley which is rich with plenty of sustenance for either an herbivore or a carnivore. It does not hibernate, as it has been seen in the winter. It is not intimidated by urbanization and it doesn’t shy away from interaction. Several residents of the area have also reported something dark and upright that left them feeling terrified.

It doesn’t shy away from human interaction and it lives in their backyards; The very definition of a monster.

Interestingly, an area of Florida that is boundaried by Markham Woods Road and Bridgewater Road (Bridgewater Rd is the Stouffville are where this was experienced) also lies adjacent to a conservation area. This Lake Mary, Florida area is located in Seminole County, about 18 miles north of Orlando. The area has had problems with cattle mutilations since 1996. Do these areas have something more in common than the “coincidence” of location names?

Further Reading:
http://www.psican.org/alpha/index.php?/2008072993/Cryptozoology/The-Markham-Monster.html

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/monster

http://www.guidingstar.ca/Markham_Ontario_History.htm

http://york.cioc.ca/record/MKM1837

http://www.richmondhill.ca/subpage.asp?pageid=parks_list_t_z

http://www.examiner.com/paranormal-in-toronto/toronto-area-cryptid-dubbed-the-markham-monster-part-1
http://naturalplane.blogspot.com/2011/06/cattle-ranch-anomalous-lights.html

Photo credits:
http://cltampa.com/dailyloaf/archives/2009/07/06/interpreting-dreams-of-your-shadow-self

http://boxgrove-markham.lefora.com/2010/09/15/milne-dam-conservation-park/

http://designerviolence.blogspot.com/

Waheela Watching

2011-08-22T05:30:00.000-07:00

In the Nahanni Valley in Canada’s Northwest Territories lives a legend called the Waheela.

The Nahanni Valley is about 300 miles (500km) west of Yellowknife, and is extraordinarily beautiful. 500-200 million years ago the region was covered by an ancient inland sea. The three mile deep rock and sediment is full of fossils that tell the tale of ancient aquatic life. When the North American and Pacific plates collided, the layers were lifted, giving rocky ridges and ranges and volcanoes pushing molten lava up into igneous batholiths. Glaciers that followed eroded much of the top layer leaving granite towers, gorgeous canyons, and breathtaking waterfalls. Flora and fauna including aspen and spruce forests and alpine tundra provide a home for protected or endangered species like grizzly bears and wood buffalo. The rare plant Nahanni Aster can only be found in this area.

Human habitation began in this area about ten thousand years ago. Evidence has been found of the Naha tribe, a group that mysteriously disappeared. During the Yukon Gold Rush, prospectors who travelled the valley told stories of hauntings and treasures hidden in the area’s 250+ caves. Dehcho First Nations and the Canadian Government oversee the area and maintain it largely as a park system.

The Dene Indians oral history sustains mid 20^th century reports of the strange beast called Waheela. This is described as a large, heavy wolf that is also part canine and possibly part bear. It is said to have supernatural powers and to be responsible for many unexplained deaths in the area. Standing three feet high at the shoulder, this large animal is several inches taller than any known wolf with a broad head rather than the narrow wolf head.

Cryptozoologist Ivan Sanderson designated this animal as Amphicyonidae, or beardog. Thought to be extinct, these animals roamed not only North America, but also Europe, Asia, and Africa. These animals were carnivorous and could certainly explain the sudden disappearance of humans. Are they extinct? Some say not in this area of the world. Beardogs live in burrows, so they could easily remain hidden in such a sparsely habited area. Additionally, they are said to have heavy white fur which would help camouflage them in the cold and snowy climate. The cryptozoological label might be in question though; Alaska and most extreme northern areas have white wolves (C. lupus) so it could well be that the sightings can be attributed to unusually large (or erroneously perceived as overly large) perfectly normal wolves.

A hunter friend of Ivan Sanderson once attempted to shoot one of these creatures and the bullet failed to penetrate the thick fur. Local legend states that the Waheela literally bites the heads off of its prey. To further complicate matters, the Waheela is sometimes said to be able to shapeshift into a human form. Regardless of what form it takes, it’s not something you want to encounter.

PSICAN Crypto Day: Lessons Learned

2011-08-15T04:51:00.000-07:00

Saturday August 13, 2011, PSICAN (Paranormal Studies and Investigations Canada) held its second Study Day. The topic was, for the first time ever, Cryptozoology. The planning began in the spring, and the room booked and the media blitzed in July. Since I am the division director, this was my baby. Thankfully, my wonderful skeptic of a husband financed the venture (PSCIAN has no source of funding beyond what the members contribute or the occasional donation). Almost immediately my panic began.

I have a great staff. They contribute to this blog, they do papers, they do research, they take witness testimony and when possible, they go into the field. They are some of the brightest folks I have ever met. I had no doubt they would be able to field questions and “talk Crypto” with little trouble. But presenters they are not, with the exception of Dr. Steve, who is a professor. Steve was tasked with putting together a presentation on Aquatic Cryptids and a second on Known/Discovered Cryptids. He did an amazing job putting together a power point but had to learn how to add audio, which proved to be a bit of a challenge. He succeeded with one, and sent the dialogue for the other—so Dana stepped up to the plate and narrated the presentation. Dana has never done audience work and was really nervous. He pulled it off though, and learned a LOT about being in the spotlight! Elvis came with Bigfoot shoved in his car. He had crafted a life sized bigfoot for folks to be photographed with and discuss. Elvis also did a brief talk on Bipedal Cryptids and fielded some tough questions. I think he probably learned that folks are a lot more educated than he thought! For my part I did a history and general overview of Cryptozoology.

We had an amazing venue, but some challenges with our equipment. The projector and laptop, although they have been friends forever and had just run through the presentations the night before, apparently had a falling out and only minimally worked. Many of our folks are also tech geeks so Matthew Didier walked through the audience with a netbook showing the slides while some people viewed them on their iPhones. Lesson: Take the high tech higher and provide a way for smart phones to see the presentation. Also choose a venue that actually is dark with the lights out.

We only charged minimal admission from the public (PSICAN folks get in free to our Study Days but typically contribute some cash to the kitty for costs) and we must have done ok as my husband said we only lost about $50 on the venture. That’s remarkable really since it featured no para celebrities or podcasting ghost busters. Several attendees were people we had only met online via the PSICAN forum or facebook. A couple had just come because they saw an ad or a flier. A good many PSICAN staff with spouses and friends also attended, even though they don’t do the cryptozoology work. A BFRO member was also in attendance and was incredibly well versed. We did manage to teach him something though—we had live demonstrations of how to do plaster foot casting and he got to be the guinea pig. He had never cast before.

As the “experts” though, I think they Cryptozoologists learned more than anyone else. Certainly we learned about the issues with planning and presenting, but we also learned about each other’s specialties. We learned what each other uses in the field—and where we prefer to do field work. We learned that when we are together as a physical team, the possibilities are endless. We learned that there really are intelligent people “out there” who will respectfully listen to what we have to say and share their own thoughts and feelings.

We learned three very important things that day.
We learned that the witnesses and the general public have a lot to teach us.
We learned Cryptozoology is real science, no matter what the “scientists” say.
We learned that we still have a lot to learn.

Photo credits: PSICAN Investigator Tere Altuna

The Canadian Coin Toss

2011-08-08T20:41:00.001-07:00

It certainly seems to be the Year of the Cryptid here in Canada. Television is teeming with crypto shows and the public interest in general is increasing. Although actual sightings don't seem to be statistically more than usual, we are getting a lot of "old" reports. These are reports from folks who have experienced something from their childhood or even "last summer on holidays". We can't run out and investigate those sorts of reports, but they are quite valuable. Each report gets archived in our database for use in the study as a whole or for additional evidence should a new sighting occur in the same location. Paranormal Studies and Investigations Canada (PSICAN) is holding its first-ever Crypto Day in Toronto on Saturday (August 13, 2011), open to the public, hoping to help meet the demand for information and education. This week's blog is abbreviated due to our commitment to that event and time constraints.

Additionally, the Royal Mint in Ottawa has begun issuing cryptid-themed coinage for collectors. The first in the series, Sasquatch, is shipped with a map of where the creature was "last seen" which is the first indication that the Mint didn't do much research. The second in the set, Quebec's Memphré, is slightly better researched but the information seems to come from only one source which is troubling. To the Mint's credit, it is marketed under the Nature and Wildlife category rather than something more disrespectful to witnesses and researchers. Sadly, the subcategory is Mythical Creatures and they are marketed as collectibles for kids. This is a three coin set and collectors are speculating that the third coin will be Ogopogo.

Is this set a good thing for Cryptozoology? Will it have any impact at all? Certainly it is not prevalent enough to make an impact worldwide, but putting these coins in hands of collectors is one way to spark interest. Hopefully many who purchase this collection will do further reading and get more factual information than is handed out with the coins. How wonderful it would have been to see a complete set (a better representation of the "beasts" of Canada) issued as circulating coinage.

The Memphré Coin did, however, catch our attention and will lead to an upcoming blog about the creature.

Not Your Typical Canadian Cryptid

2011-07-31T08:22:00.000-07:00

By Guest Blogger Sue St. Clair

I first wrote about the "Toronto Tunnel Monster" in 1999. At that time the case was two decades old, and I can say that in the ensuing years we are no closer to answering what exactly was witnessed that fateful summer day in Toronto in 1978.

Back in 1999 I was mostly interested in UFOlogy and in particular witnesses various descriptions of aliens. In my opinion the weirder the better! Larry Fenwick a founder and director of CUFORN, which was a grass roots UFO investigative group that operated here in Canada mostly throughout the 1970s and 80's kindly allowed me access to many of their case reports and collected newspaper accounts. That is how I first encountered the original newspaper article on the "monster" and of course being from my hometown it captured my interest. The following is taken from my original write-up:

Ernest (he would only allow his first name to be used within the newspaper account) was described as a soft-spoken 51 year old at the time of his harrowing experience. He and his wife of 19 years had been raising a litter of kittens. One of the kittens apparently disappeared and Ernest decided to search for it in the vicinity of their Parliament St. apartment. Close by he stumbled upon the opening to a dark “cave” and crawled approx.10ft inwards. This is where he said, “I saw a living nightmare that I'll never forget.”

Armed only with a flashlight Ernest encountered a creature of unknown origin. He described the monster as “long and thin, almost like a monkey, three ft long, large teeth, weighing maybe 30lbs with slate-grey fur.” However it was the eyes that truly stood out, “orange and red, slanted.”

Ernest spoke reluctantly with reporters as to what occurred next. The creature spoke to him. “I'll never forget it,” he said. “It said, ‘Go away, go away,’ in a hissing voice. Then it took off down a long tunnel off to the side. I got out of there as fast as I could. I was shaking with fear.”

Ernest never approached the media with his story. He was afraid that people would think that he was “drunk” or worse “crazy” and felt that no one would ever believe him. “The (Toronto area newspaper) Sun found him after hearing about his experience from a contact who had worked with a relative of Ernest’s, one of the handful of people to whom he had confided his experience. He would agree to talk to a reporter only if his last name was not revealed.”

“I believe Ernie saw exactly what he says he did”, said Barbara (Ernest’s wife). “He was terrified when he came back to the apartment and he doesn't scare easily. Look, he’s been known to have a drink in the past - like most people, and to occasionally tie one on, but he’s not a drunk and he wasn't drinking at all that day.”

The Toronto Sun did question some of Ernest’s relatives and neighbourhood acquaintances. They found that all agreed with and supported Barbara’s evaluation of her husband.

Ernest accompanied by Sun staff returned to the location of his strange sighting in March of 1979. The cave’s entrance was located at the bottom of a narrow passageway between the building where he lived and the one next door. Together they found the corpse of a cat, which was “half-buried in the tunnel.” The sad discovery reminded Ernest of ‘strange noises, like animals in pain,” that he had heard emanating from the tunnel prior to his frightening encounter.

Ernest showed the Sun reporter exactly where he saw the strange being. He stated, “ The last I saw the creature it was heading off into the dark.” The passage seemed to drop down very quickly and go a long way back.

It was speculated that the tunnel in fact led to the sewer system and that the entranceway beside Ernest’s apartment was “an access point used by the creature to the surface.” Safety concerns promoted Toronto’s Sewer Department to thoroughly inspect the tunnel as it was feared that area children may in fact try to enter it.

Ernest’s story was very strange, however sewage employees did not ridicule or scoff at it according to the report made by The Toronto Sun at that time. One worker who was quoted in the paper stated, “People who work on the surface just don't know what it’s like down there. It’s a whole different world. Who would have thought a few years ago that people would live in sewers, and yet that’s what they found in New York a few years back. Another was quoted as saying, “I don't know what he (Ernest) saw down there.” He also stated, “I'll tell you one thing. If we could get in there, I sure as hell wouldn't want to go down alone.”

Over the years I have tried to find the exact tunnel where Ernest encountered the monster, with no luck. The city has changed a fair bit in the last 30+ years so it's not too surprising that the entrance to the tunnel is long gone. I have been unable to located any other potential witnesses, but over the years several parapsychologist, crypto enthusiasts, and one very prominent UFO abductee have contacted me in regards to interest in the story.

I have no idea if the Toronto Tunnel Monster is truly a cryptid ......but it may be ....and it certainly is a Canadian mystery.....and for that alone I do believe it is a story worth retelling.....

Sources:

The Toronto Tunnel Monster, The Toronto Sunday Sun - March 25th, 1979
ParaResearchers.org
Personal correspondence

Photo Credit: PSICAN (Toronto at Union Station)

Sue St. Clair is a psychical researcher living in Toronto, Ontario Canada. She is a co-founder of Paranormal Studies Investigations and Canada and enjoys reading about and researching stories and reports of fantastical creatures.

Giant Shark Sightings in the Bay of Fundy

2011-07-25T05:00:00.000-07:00

By: Stephen Turnbull

There are reports of giant shark sightings from around the world. Some of the largest creatures in the ocean are sharks, the basking shark and the whale shark, are greater than 12 and 15 metres respectively. Many of the witnesses that report seeing a large unidentifiable shark have ultimately been found to have seen one or the other. However some, adamantly state, what they saw is not either one of these giant sharks. Nor do they claim it is a great white shark as the size of the animal, even accounting for over exaggeration, is much larger than the great white shark.

Some say it may be C. megalodon, or most commonly referred to as Megalodon! This giant shark, perhaps reaching lengths of 16 metres or more, had six inch teeth. Megalodon is thought to have gone extinct over 1 million years ago as the climate cooled and their main prey, whales, moved northward where the sharks could not follow. Some even say that the animal may have gone extinct only 10,000 years ago. This is based on the examination of a tooth in 1959 that was found by British explorers aboard the Challenger in 1875. The tooth has since been reexamined and may actually be much older than 10,000 years. Others still believe it is possible that the animal has survived in the depths of the ocean!

In October, 1999, witnesses interviewed by Loren Coleman, described seeing a giant shark in the Bay of Fundy, Canada. Bill Curtsinger wasa retired navy seaman, experienced diver, and photographer. He and his dive companion were diving near the southern tip of Deer Island, New Brunswick, a common dive destination. They heard a big splash (like a whale breaching they said), then another “thrash and splash” noise as described to Coleman.

Curtsinger and his companion commented that the colour and the shape of the tail reminded them of a caudal fin of a thresher shark (Alopias vulpinus). The tail was scythe-like and they estimated the shark to be about 10 metres in length, and had a large appendage that was to be 2-3 metres high. Curtsinger stated he had never seen anything like it in his 30 years on and under the ocean. They also described the tail as thrashing from side to side, like that of a shark, and unlike the up and down motion of a whale’s tail.

Coleman noted in his book that thresher sharks are usually foundfarther out to sea but this is not really true in the Bay of Fundy, as thresher sharks are relatively common within the Bay during the spring to fall, and are often seen breaching. However, this shark does not have a huge dorsal fin (or any other fin) as that described by Curtsinger.

Shown here is a photo of a thresher shark caught in the Bay and you can see the long, thin upper lobe of the tail, and smaller, almost nonexistent, lower lobe. Notice the dorsal fin and other fins are very small.

Other shark species do exist in the Bay of Fundy, but only one has an appendage as large as that described by Curtsinger and his companion, the basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus).

You can see the size of the dorsal fin here in this attached image. The fins are not as thin as described but are definitely long, including the lunate tail which is often exposed when the animal is swimming at the surface. Basking sharks are common in this area during the late spring and into late fall and do breach. There has even been a sighting of a whale shark (1997) within the Bay of Fundy also, but not that close to shore and they have very clear, distinctive markings.

The question remains, what did they see? Most sightings of a giant shark turn out to be a known species but some still remain a mystery. More details are needed to either confirm or to eliminate them as possible sources of the sighting.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalodon

Coleman, L. and P. Huyghe. 2003. Lake Monster, Sea Serpents, and other mystery denizens of the Deep.

Ken Chaplin’s Ogopogo: Twenty-two Years Later

2011-07-17T21:19:00.001-07:00

by Robin Bellamy

On July 18, 1989, a 42 year old car salesman from Kelowna, BC captured something on tape. Ken was a Okanagan Valley native, having lived near the lake all his life. He had been driven to take a camera to the lake because his father, 79 year old Clem Chaplin, believed he had seen Ogopogo that day.

Image source: http://www.cryptopedia101.com/storsjoodjuret.html

Ken and Clem described something hairless, green in color, with spots. They believed what they saw was about 15 feet long, which is rather small by Ogopogo standards. The video (you can see in here –Ken’s bit starts about 6 minutes and 40 seconds in) is of course pretty grainy and pretty generic. There is something in the water of course, but is it a cryptid? They captured it again a few days later as well. Ken, his daughter, and his dad, all believe this to be Ogopogo. So did a lot of other people. Time Magazine ran the story, as did other news outlets and the footage was examined. The tape was proved to not be a hoax, but was it a monster? Some believe it was an otter or a beaver.

Clem Chaplin was born in Kelowna, and his father pioneered the area several years before Clem’s birth. When Ken was 13, his father Clem shared the story of his own father’s sighting many years before. Initially Mr. Chaplin the elder thought he had seen a log, but upon closer inspection discovered the creature was living and it suddenly dove deeper into the lake. Clem had fished the lake all his life and had his own sightings to pass on. Now Ken was the third generation, and Ken’s daughter the fourth, of the Chaplin family to see this thing. Surely, they, along with other Valley natives, couldn’t be mistaken.

Lake Okanagan is located in the south central BC interior. The lake is long, and sightings have occurred throughout, although most occur in the Rattlesnake Island/Peachland area. The Natives had a long oral history about the demon in the lake, calling it N'ha-a-itk. Natives claimed the demon's lair was a cave under Squally Point near Rattlesnake Island, located offshore near Peachland. According to legend, no man or woman would paddle a canoe near this area without an offering to the creature lest a storm spring up and claim their life. When white settlers arrived in the mid 1800s, they claimed to not be superstitious and ventured into the lake, only to begin seeing the monster for themselves. An incident in 1860 involved what appeared to be two horses swimming behind a boat that was suddenly pulled beneath the waves. The owner saved himself by cutting the rope attached to his horses.

The first documented sighting of the cryptid called Ogopogo was in 1872 (some sources cite this as 1852 but this seems unlikely as the first settlement was in 1859 and wasn’t even part of Canada until 1871) by a Mrs. John Allison. In 1926 thirty carloads of people sighted what they believed to be Ogopogo near Mission Beach. Year after year, sightings—often with photographs or video—are reported. BC has embraced their monster as a tourist draw with many boats, teams, landmarks, and memorabilia using the Ogopogo moniker. Canada even issued a stamp commemorating the cryptid in 1990.

Are we any closer to solving the mystery of Ogopogo? Since the lake is similar in size and depth to Loch Ness in Scotland, and lies along nearly the same latitude, speculation is that Nessie and Ogopogo are of the same species. Reports are similar in the appearance and behaviour. Yet that only shows a similarity to another unproven cryptid. The Chaplin family is well respected so their credibility is not in doubt, but sadly “science” doesn’t put much stock in witness testimony. Even when the witnesses number in the thousands.

Sadly, we are no closer to proving Ogopogo than the natives were three hundred years ago. In 1989 Chapman used the best technology available—a video camera—to show what he saw. We can only hope that as technology improves, so will the evidence of this cryptid’s existence.

Poo Poo-ing Unknown Animals

2011-07-11T05:37:00.000-07:00

by Robin Bellamy

This isn’t a rant about unbelievers. This is information, quite literally, about poo. Dung. Scat. Best not to be reading this with your meal.

Every living thing has excrement. Even plants emit gasses they don’t use. All biological animals excrete scat, and generally this scat is composed of about three-quarters water and one quarter waste. Of that solid quarter, about a third is dead bacteria, a third is fibre, and the rest is a mix of fat, cholesterol, live bacteria, proteins and salts, and occasionally, undigested food or other ingested matter. This is a wealth of information about the source of the sample.

Cryptozoologists have for too long ignored the value of droppings. In an exhaustive search for photos and footprints, we have literally ignored what might be stuck to our shoes. Does Bigfoot build a nest? Does Nessie eat fish? Is Mothman a bird? All of these questions, in addition to whether or not these creatures even exist, can be answered via meadow muffins. Finding Bigfoot may be much more simple than getting that great video or finding a corpse—we simply assume that, if he exists, then he must poo. Birds do it. Bees do it. Even educated fleas do it. If we collect it and analyse it, we have irrefutable proof. It’s really quite easy to identify poo, and relatively inexpensive to have it further analysed in a lab if necessary.

When in the field, watch where you step and take photos of what you are avoiding stepping in. Many animal types can be easily identified by their droppings. There are several books and websites with good graphics to help educate you on what to look for. Here’s an example: If you are in the forest and assuming that Bigfoot is mostly human, you would look for droppings that look like what comes out of humans. This would immediately rule out deer, coyote, etc. as their dung is different in shape and consistency. If you assume he is mostly bear, his excrement should look tubular and probably larger than human. If Old Yellow Top is more of a monkey, you would expect the feces to be lumpier rather than tubular.

Once properly collected, the analysis is even more telling. What the animal has eaten will be evident, as will the holy grail of cryptid-seeking; DNA. In 2008, a 14,000 year old sample of dry feces was collected in the western United States and tested and through the presence of DNA, the source was identified. Further testing of mitochondrial DNA (DNA that is passed from the mother) revealed the pooper had a lineage tracing back to Asia. That doggy-doodoo you are too lazy to pick up can be tested and tracked to your pooch. Identifying Nessie as a Cadborosaurus may be as simple as analysis of the fecal strands floating in the lake or among the silt on the seabed.

Imagine what collecting a sample from an unknown creature will do to the world of science. The tests on guano can be done from $50 to $5000 depending on the depth of study you require. Certainly the first steps are to determine the kind of animal who shed the sample. This will rule out 99% of your samples. Only that one remaining sample would need further testing, once it has failed identification in the more general species tests. If that one sample tests as something that is viable but as yet undetermined, the poo-tential is staggering.

You Take the Low Road, I'll Take the High Road...

2011-06-30T15:22:00.000-07:00

Since “ghost hunting” and “cryptozoology” have become more mainstream, those who take their research seriously are feeling increasingly frustrated by a plethora of false information and glory seeking not only on TV and online, but also in face to face situations. One of the biggest reasons there is this unease is that there is absolutely no regulation, peer or otherwise, over the credentials or publication of “findings” in this genre of research.

Few groups are funded, especially in North America, and literally all expenses—from travel to equipment and more---is out of the pocket of the investigator or, if he is lucky, from some group fund that others have either donated to or sold “swag” to maintain. Ironically, those groups who sell swag, t-shirts and coffee mugs and the like, are even more criticized for commercializing the study. It is somehow perceived that if you sell a bumper sticker with your group logo you are somehow less serious about the research. Realistically, funding your study does not automatically mean you are in it for the money. Nobody is going to get rich from the 2-10% payback on CafePress or Zazzle. Profit from the pennies on the dollar a website gets for a Google ad or an amazon.com affiliation will not even pay for a tank of gas and a night in a hotel for an onsite study. Until philanthropists, academics and governments recognize the importance of researching things that are outside of regular science, researchers will continue to keep their day jobs to pay for their research.

Justifiably, however, funding is not going to happen until the charlatans and hoaxers are better dealt with. At some point, groups and individuals are going to have to swallow their egos and contrive a peer review system that can accredit or otherwise recognize honest, responsible researchers. A spirit of information sharing and cooperation that currently does not exist among these sorts of groups will have to develop. Each researcher or group will have to stop racing to be the “one” that “discovers” all the answers or provides the evidence and instead focus on working together and weeding out those folks who are faking evidence and sensationalizing trivia.

Serious researchers who want to be respected and influential should not wait for this to happen. Each of us in this field needs to first and foremost BE responsible researchers. This isn’t as easy as it sounds. Responsible research means spending a lot of time learning about a variety of things. Cryptozoology alone encompasses biology, zoology, mythology, archaeology, history, botany, and dozens of other studies that a responsible researcher must at least understand if not master before being able to successfully research an unknown animal. One need not be a PhD in ANY of these disciplines, but should be able to reach out to further education or dialogue with actual academics for a better understanding or analysis. Instead of allowing ego to isolate, honest researchers need to channel this ego into becoming the best in the field. To get the respect, we have to do the work.

Additionally, researchers who publish need to allow their work to be open to criticism. Any researcher who supresses or removes dissenting or critical replies to their public work are to be suspected of dishonesty. If one’s work or opinion will not stand up to alternate opinion or criticism, it is not thoroughly vetted work. If one’s “feelings” get hurt by someone challenging their findings, then perhaps those feelings are more important to the researcher than the truth in the research. Persons who fit into that mold need to be discarded as serious researchers. That’s not to say we shouldn’t be offended by hurtful postings—certainly there are those out there who seek to attack the researcher rather than the results. We are human, and attacks hurt. In that case, only give as much respect to the dissenting opinion as it is worthy of. Those of us who do televisions appearances are especially vulnerable to those kinds of attacks. Because real researchers tend to be normal looking rather than model pretty, we are often criticized over our age, our fashion sense, our weight, our hair (or lack thereof) and many other external elements. Audiences who feel compelled to criticise those things are not interested in the research. Those audiences want to be entertained, not educated. Our visceral reaction may be to recoil in pain, but we need to remind ourselves that our goal in presenting is to educate, not impress.

Truly, the need to educate needs to always be the goal in publishing findings. Entertainment success is exceedingly fleeting. The tremendous success of Paranormal State, for instance, is over. In just a few years those researchers were discarded like the losers from “America’s Got Talent”. If that was their only goal in this field, their professional lives done. If their goal is/was to continue to study and to educate, then the end of the fame is meaningless. One’s success or failure in this field is only determined by their goal. Likewise, if your view of success only involves DNA evidence of BigFoot you may never be successful. If you put all of your self-esteem in how many electronics you own and they never produce quantitative results that meet the expectations of the debunkers, you set yourself up to fail.

Those of us who have trodden this path for several years and have had our moments of true understanding have a responsibility not only to our audiences but also to new investigators. First and foremost we need to be good examples. We need to limit our publicity and publication to those items that really matter. We need to avoid the temptation to only entertain; we can be entertaining while we educate, but posting on blogs and youtube and such only to elicit laughs or horror is counterproductive to the study and eventually taints the researcher’s ability to be trusted and respective. Additionally, we have a responsibility to call out the hoaxers and pseudoresearchers when they go public with dubious evidence and opinion. We need to ignore press releases that say nothing. We need to challenge evidence that has not been tested in a laboratory or at the very least peer reviewed. We need to respectfully, politely, and preferably privately, suggest that this behaviour is unacceptable. In the unfortunate instances where hoaxers are public, we need to publicly debunk them.

Lacking an accrediting organization, we must keep ourselves and each other in check. One need not earn a living doing paranormal research to be professional. One need not be a university graduate to be educated. One need not dance for a network camera to garner positive exposure and respect in this field. Owning thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment or looking good in a bikini doesn’t make anyone a good investigator. What makes someone successful is the realization of goals they have set for themselves. What makes someone respectable is setting those goals a little higher.

Recommended reading:

http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses

http://academicearth.org/

Why Are We Not Capturing More Cryptids?

2011-06-24T17:48:00.000-07:00

By Dana-G Currie, CFZ-Canada, PSICAN Cryptozoologist

The biggest question that I keep asking myself when I study Cryptozoology is why so many Cryptids have been witnessed but so few have been captured?

It is not that I condone the capture and public display of any animal but I do believe that a quick non-intrusive observation and release back into their environment is acceptable. How else would we collect the data we require and finally make a myth a reality? As most of us are already aware, there have been Cryptids in the past that were discovered. Some examples are the mountain gorilla, the giant squid and the Okapi plus several others.There are many possibilities, why more may have not been captured to date. For example, the environment where they exist may be a large factor. In the case of Big Foot of the Pacific North West, British Columbia and Northern Ontario, the remoteness and vast forests could be a key factor. Human populations are minimal and these creatures are probably masters of their environments.

In the case of the Loch Ness Monster plus other possible Lake Creatures like Champ of Lake Champlain, the possibility of water depth and low visibility may be some of the reasons for non-positive identification to date. Possibly, the Loch Ness Monster and Champ are in fact the same creature? Given that neither lake could probably support a creature of this approximate size based on fish population studies, might it not be possible that this/these creatures travel under the Atlantic Ocean via caverns taking advantage of abundant fish supplies?Other reasons may be that some report sightings are hoaxes from untruthful people out to get a laugh? May be some of these creatures are phasing in and out of another time or are shape shifters? Another possibility is that they know that they are left over from a time gone by and are more intelligent than we understand, choosing to cling to their remote environments be it the dense forests of the Pacific North West, the murky depths of a lake or the snow covered peaks of a mountain? They may do this as they already know that encounters with humans usually result in disaster and misery.

In conclusion, may be some of the reasons, we do not capture more Cryptids is because they choose not to be seen, their numbers are minimal and for many their natural environments are remote and have minimal human population. May be in the case of some sightings, a person has actually sighted an animal but it might be an Otter or another known animal and not a yet to be discovered animal?

The Lake Utopia Monster

2011-06-22T16:40:00.002-07:00

By Stephen Turnbull

Located in Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Canada there is a small lake, called Lake Utopia (45° 10′ 48″ N, 66° 47′ 24″ W). This lake is about 7 km long and less than 3 km at its widest point. The northern basin is about 30 metres deep with the average depth being around 11 metres. In comparison, Loch Ness in Scotland (57° 18′ 0″ N, 4° 27′ 0″ W) is over 36 km in length, under 3 km at its widest point, and has an average depth of over 130 metres (maximum depth of over 200 metres). However, the two lakes have two things in common. Both are at similar latitudes and both are said to harbour an unknown creature!

Everyone is familiar with Nessie or the Loch Ness Monster, but few people outside the local area of Lake Utopia or in the field of cryptozoology have heard about the Lake Utopia Monster. While Nessie is often described as looking like a plesiosaur, the Lake Utopia Monster, or what the locals call “Old Ned,” has been described as being serpentine or eel-like, or even cetacean-like in appearance, perhaps greater than 13 metres in length.

An article that originally ran in 1872 in Canadian Illustrated News provided a diagram of what some witnesses reported seeing.

Stories about its existence by Natives pre-date the arrival of the Europeans but the first documented account appears in 1867. In 1868, many believed the Lake Utopia Monster had been killed! Harper’s Weekly ran an article that a mysterious sea serpent was killed in Passamaquoddy Bay. It was reported to have a dorsal fin and a flat tail like a shark.

An artists drawing that accompanied the article clearly shows a basking shark and the hind limbs

were likely claspers from what was likely a male basking shark. It was thought to be trying to cross land and make its way into Lake Utopia. Sightings still continued after this incidence.

Norma Stewart has documented the sightings of this animal for over 25 years, and the last reported sighting was in 2000. Stewart believes the animal travels back and forth between Lake Utopia and the Atlantic Ocean, appearing every 3-5 years, as if on some kind of breeding or feeding cycle. Because of this movement between the ocean and freshwater, she refers to it as a sea monster, that may even be amphibious and have lungs. The fact that the animal may be migratory helps debunk the skeptic argument that the lake could not sustain an animal (or animals) the size of the Old Ned.

How does the animal migrate between a freshwater lake and the ocean if it is not amphibious and has lungs? St. George is a small town close to Lake Utopia. The Magaguadavic River (river of eels) is connected to Lake Utopia through a deep canal and the river flows through St. George to Passamaquoddy Bay and the sea beyond. While the Magaguadavic River is dammed in St. George, it is said Lake Utopia is also connected to the ocean via a system of underground tunnels so it is theoretically possible for a sea creature to by-pass the dam in St. George and move into the freshwater system via these tunnels.

There is no conclusive evidence for the existence of this creature. Some speculate it is an otter, beaver, logs, a ball of freshwater eels, a large fish or some other known animal. Eels do live in the lake but nothing of that size has ever been captured. Theories abound about what it might be but, tor the time being, the mystery of the Lake Utopia Monster remains just that, a mystery.

Sources:
http://www.gnb.ca/0009/0369/0001/0001-e.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Ness

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Basking_shark_Harper%27s_Weekly_October_24%2C_1868.jpg
Newton, Michael. 2005. Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology: a global guide to hidden animals and their pursuers. McFarland and Company. North Carolina. 537pp.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Utopia_(New_Brunswick)
One monster’s Utopia. (2005, July 23) Chuck Brown – The New Brunswick Reader. Retrieved 11:05, January 24, 2011 from http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nbpstgeo/stge8n.htm

The Lake Utopia Monster: Mysterious Creature Spotted For Centuries http://www.suite101.com/content/lake-utopia-monster-a191354#ixzz1DHhnSZCp

Finding Bigfoot… Isn’t

2011-06-21T07:48:00.000-07:00

by Robin Bellamy

We watched the purity of ghost research descend into the depths of hell with the deluge of “reality” television like Paranormal State and other “ghost hunter” shows. Now the steady decline of Crytpozoology gets its day. Shows like River Monsters and Destination Truth initially gave us hope that the Crypto world would raise the bar for “reality research” by doing actual field work and seeming not to fake results. The latest entry, “Finding Bigfoot” looked promising as well because it was not only presumably going to contain Canadian Content but also not focussed on handsome hunks with perfect hair.

Alas, this was not even of the marginal calibre of Destination Truth. Finding Bigfoot, first and foremost, doesn’t find bigfoot. They break out the FLIR camera, which retails for a whopping $1500 or more, and photograph horses, bunnies and people, but no bigfoot. Smudges in the mud in Georgia are hailed as “the best track find of (his) entire bigfooting career”.

The website notaghost.com remarks, “It's like a perfect storm in which the worst kind of producers meet the most credulous of believers. It's a match made in crackpot heaven.” This is probably the most succinct review of the show. Matt Moneymaker has in fact been quite open about the butchering, disguised as editing, that the TV folks have done to make this show “more interesting”. He has been the saving grace for this genre of television. His candid criticism of what the show presents versus what was actually filmed is being very well received in the Cryptozoology community, but by participating in the show he negates that. A serious cryptozoologist would abandon the project as soon as the hoaxery is discovered, yet there are rumblings that there will be a second season. How can Moneymaker claim he is incensed at the editing and portrayal and still justify returning for more?

Second, the “experts”, although thankfully not into the “paranormal star” mystique, are less than professional. Lets start with the name Bobo. Is that a name that screams “scientific evidence and logical conclusions”? Maybe the last names will be more trustworthy—nope, the lead is named “Moneymaker”. An unfortunate coincidence, as that is truly his name and he really is a “bigfoot hunter” in real life.

I recently appeared as a guest “expert” on a couple of episodes of “Freak Encounters”. They edited a bit of what I said, but left the information mostly as I presented it. That project was clearly fictional—the premise was to fool others into thinking that “real” crypto monsters were coming to get them. They supported the fiction by introducing the actual history and information on each creature. At no time did they seek to provide “evidence”. Still, it was a pretty terrible show, and was not renewed. Is the viewing audience more interested in recreations of sketchy “facts” and dismissing obvious fictional shows? Do viewers want to be lied to? When fiction fails and pseudo-reality succeeds, what does that tell us about our goals for entertainment?

The biggest frustration is that there is good evidence and information available. There are scientific methods and forensic evidence in cryptozoology that are not yet available in other types of paranormal studies. There are actual degreed scientists working on the bigfoot puzzle as opposed to the starts of this show—Moneymaker is apparently a lawyer, Barrackman is a fourth grade teacher and a jazz musician, James Fay (aka Bobo) is a commercial fisherman, and Ranae Holland, the one team member with actual scientific credentials, works for the NOAA and has a specialty in the relationship between fish and bears. Where are Jeff Meldrum (BS in Zoology), Dr Mark Miller (neuropsychology), Dr Robert Pyle (School of Forestry at Yale), Estiban Sarriento (primatologist), John Bindernagel (wildlife biologist) or Roderick Sprague (anthropologist)? These are degreed scientists active in the field of cryptozoology. Aren’t scientists “sexy” enough for television? Where is the excavation of proposed bigfoot burial sites in Ohio discovered by Dallas Gilbert? Where is the DNA from the hair clumps found by Paul Freeman? At least Monsterquest had a real 911 call and an in depth analysis of the Patterson-Gimli film. Where is the research on thousands of sightings of Canadian Bigfoot? Where, in this new series, is bigfoot?

Flying bear kills two Canadians in freak accident

2011-06-13T10:13:00.000-07:00

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/2011/06/flying-bear-kills-two-canadians-in.html

Meet the Canadian Bloggers!

2011-06-11T17:50:00.000-07:00

Currently, the CFZ-Canada blog is being powered by four Cryptozoologists who live in Canada. They have a combined experience of nearly 20 years in the study!

Robin Pyatt Bellamy

Robin is the former PSICAN Crypto Director and a long-time fan of CFZ. She has many published articles online and in print and has authored three books to date, with another to be released early in 2012. Her specialty is Mothman research, but she enjoys researching all of the cryptids worldwide. She sees partnering with CFZ as a privilege and an honour.
Born in Point Pleasant, WV, Robin immigrated to Canada in 2000 and currently lives in Toronto, Ontario. She holds degrees in Accounting and Business Administration, but her work experience is in education, media, and research.

Dana G Currie

Dana is a regular contributor to Cryptozoology after coming from a primarily ghost-research background. He began learning about odd events and creatures at a very young age and continues to be interested in everything from cryptids to alternative history. His work regarding Canadian lake monsters is frequently cited by other researchers and he looks forward to sharing his passion with readers of the new CFZ-Canada blog.
Dana was born in Quebec and has lived for many years near Barrie, Ontario, as a member of the Canadian Armed Forces. He holds a degree in Geography and many certificates in Human Resources, Technical Writing, and Logistics. He particularly admires organizations like CFZ and PSICAN because of their knowledge and professionalism.

Elvis Podvorac

Elvis was born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario and currently works at McMaster University. He is witty and very sarcastic so we shant expect political correct blogs from him! When asked to provide something for this bio he wrote: "I have no role models, as I am a cynical bastard, and feel that no one is worthy of my admiration due to natural human fallibility. Instead, I respect the ideology of truth as a ultimate goal and attempt to emulate this to the best of my ability. I also believe in never making money off your friends or family. Unless you are a car salesman, and this is how you eat." Elvis first became interested in Cryptozoology after recieving copies of Owl Magazine as a child and learning about Sasquatch. In 2005 he joined The Shadows Project, then PSICAN, and was tapped to join the Cryptozoology Division.

Dr Stephen D Turnbull

Steve is the newest member of PSICAN’s Crypto team but has already published outstanding material relative to marine cryptids. He often travels for onsite study and has recently returned from Africa where he was able to learn about maneless lions in their natural habitat. He makes frequent trips to the Caribbean for extensive study on sharks, dolphins and other aquatic creatures. Contributing to the CFZ-Canada blog gives him an opportunity to tell others about not only unusual beings, but also his home country.
Steve was born in New Castle, New Brunswick and is currently a professor at the University of New Brunswick in St. John. His PhD is in Biology and he also serves as the Executive Director of the Canadian Shark Conservation Society. He is interested in Cryptozoology because new species are constantly being unearthed and he’s intrigued by what we have yet to discover. He much respects those who approach cryptozoology with an open mind.

ROBIN PYATT BELLAMY: Canadian Cryptology at a Glance

2011-06-10T03:28:00.000-07:00

Canadian Cryptology at a Glance
Regular readers of the CFZ are well versed in the foundations for the study of “officially” unexplained animals. Thousands of creatures are being investigated worldwide, and in North America there is a taste of just about every type of conceivable creature. Canada, specifically, has more than Sasquatch and Ogopogo; much more.

Every province of Canada has a Bigfoot-esque witness report. On the west coast (British Columbia) they tend to call him Sasquatch, toward the east he’s likely Bigfoot. He’s called B’gwas by the Haisla, Boqs by the Bella Coola Tribe, Matlose (W.Canada, Nootkas Tribe), Old Yellow Top (Canada, Ontario), Rugaru (Ojibway), Wendigo (Algonquian), Yeahoh ( Algonkian); the list is diverse as the Canadian population. He has many different hair colors, but is generally described as big and hairy with a face very similar to a human.

Similarly, every province of Canada has a water based cryptid. BC has Ogopogo and Caddy, the Prairies have glacial lakes with possible plesiosaurs or giant sturgeon or any number of interesting aquatic creatures. Canada has the third largest supply of fresh water in the world, the vast majority of which is related to glaciers both old and current. Canada’s Great Slave Lake is deeper than Loch Ness or Lake Champlain, or even Crater Lake, Oregon. Canada’s swimming monsters also appear in all three oceans, each of the Great Lakes, and even a few rivers. Many Giant Squid, one species now off the “cryptid” list, washed ashore in Newfoundland in the late 1800’s. Canadian specialists are also frequently called in to identify the “Montauk” looking corpses of beaver and other wildlife that occasionally stimulate the local imaginations
Probably the most reported flying cryptids come from the Philippines, but Mothman and Thunderbirds have visited Canada from time to time. Culturally, Canada is very diverse so it is often difficult to correctly label what the witness reports—what may be an Ahool to one person could be the near exact description of Owlman by a different culture of Canadians. The large number of aboriginal groups with their own versions of things that fly, in face of things that change shape, complicates the study of many of Canada’s land and air creatures.

Canada shares with other countries in a large number of reports regarding “wee folk” and no real decision has yet to be made on whether these are cryptological, other dimensional, ghost related, or mythology. Paranormal Studies and Investigations Canada (PSICAN) treats these reports according to how the witness categorizes them. Most of the reports of small human-like entities come from the Maritime Provinces and are very similar to East Coast USA reports. Even in one general area, witnesses may perceive the wee ones as ghostly and right next door the witness will consider them cryptids.

Over the next few weeks and months we look forward to introducing you to the “monsters” of Canada and some of the folks who research them. If are in Canada and you have an experience you’d like to share please email robin@triedit.net. Your name, email, and address are always kept confidential. Questions and ideas for articles you’d like to see are also most welcome.

Further Reading:
http://www.paranormalhaze.com/monsters-of-canada/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_resources
http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/ecology/10-deepest-lakes-on-earth/1234?image=3
http://www.mnh.si.edu/exhibits/ocean_hall/squid.html
http://www.unknown-creatures.com/ahool.html
http://www.angelfire.com/faeryskiss/can.html