Happy Monkey Day 2014

Happy Monkey Day!


December 14th is International Monkey Day.

The holiday started in 2000 and was the inspiration of a pair of students from Michigan State University. When the pair began to include the ‘holiday’ in their artwork and comic strips, other artists took up the idea and played along. Over time, the holiday began to be promoted online and caught the attention of artists and activist around the world.

Although called Monkey Day, the holiday has become a time to raise awareness for all primate related causes. Animal rights organizations, sanctuaries and rescue groups use the day to generate attention to their causes, and to have a little fun along the way. Over the years, numerous artists have produced Monkey related material during the holiday.

Director Peter Jackson, in a nod to International Monkey Day, released King Kong on December 14th, 2005.

Casey Sorrow, one of the MSU students responsible for the genesis of Monkey Day, maintains a blog called “Monkeys in the News.” Check it out for some interesting highlights:
http://www.monkeyday.org/2013/12/happy-monkey-day-2013.html

The Monkey Sanctuary works hard to assist primates and has an annual ‘adopt a monkey for Christmas’ program:
http://www.monkeysanctuary.org/fundraise/adopt-a-monkey/

Cryptid Christmas 2014

Tis’ the season for Crypto-Gifts! While I’m sure there are tons of books and DVDs on the list of most people interested in cryptozoology, I thought it would be interesting to list a few of the more unusual items on offer that may spark the interest of those fascinated with strange animals.

Bigfoot Tree Ornament
What’s better than Bigfoot on a Christmas tree? These ornaments have been around for a few years but they remain a holiday favorite. Cast in resin, the figure depicts Sasquatch with a Christmas cap and a string of lights. The ornaments are available from Design Toscano:
http://www.designtoscano.com/product/code/DB983084.do


Cryptozoology Toob
Toy company Safari Ltd., has produced a new item in their ‘toobs’ line and they’ve ventured into cryptozoology. The new toob features a series of seven cryptids that includes: Bigfoot, Yeti, Loch Ness Monster, Kraken, Jackalope, Furry Trout and the Coelacanth.
These quality miniatures are made of hard plastic and look great on any cryptid hunter’s bookshelf. They’re available from the International Cryptozoology Museum for a limited time. While you’re at the site, check out the other fine offerings from them including t-shirts and Museum passes:
http://cryptozoologymuseumstore.tictail.com/


Giant Squid Coffee Mug
The Discovery Store has a number of items available from its annual Monster Week event. The giant squid coffee mug pictured here is just one of the many possibilities. Other items include t-shirts, ipad & iphone covers and magnets, all with the monster week logo and various creatures.
http://store.discovery.com/monster-week/index.php?v=animal-planet_shows_monster-week








Boggy Creek T-Shirt
Back in 2012, author Lyle Blackburn penned the ultimate book on the Legend of Boggy Creek. Many modern cryptozoologist remember the film fondly and consider it an early inspiration in their pursuit of strange creatures. Since his book release, Blackburn has released a number of Boggy Creek items featuring the legendary creature. A favorite is the Best of Boggy Creek T-shirt, produced on high quality cotton and available in all sizes. They’re available at the Fouke Monster shop at the website below.
http://www.foukemonster.net/shop.htm



Yeti Statue
Finally, the ‘big one.’ Design Toscano already produced a Bigfoot statue available in three different sizes from a couple of feet up to a ‘life sized,’ six foot version. Now, they’ve turned their attention to the Himalayan Yeti, or, as some call him, the Abominable Snowman. Just like the brown Bigfoot, the Yeti is produced in three different sizes, medium, large and life size. Ranging in price from a hundred dollars for the medium statue, to a hefty price tag of over two grand for the six footer, these unique statues are nicely done and will be a great prize for any cryptozoologist on your list.

http://www.designtoscano.com/product/code/DB5383091.do

Mississippi Chupacabras

News reports out of Leake County, Mississippi claim that a local man has killed a chupacabra, the legendary creature known as the ‘goat sucker.’

Twenty eight year old local man, Matthew Harrell shot the creature when he caught it in a chicken coop. “My neighbor said the creature had killed three of his chickens. I thought it was a coon at first.”
Harrell says he realized the animal wasn’t a raccoon when he saw its glowing red eyes.

“This one wasn’t lunging. He was down like a cat…and I was seeing the teeth and red eyes. It looked like he was going to jump down there and I didn’t give him the chance.”

The animal that Harrell killed appears to be a canine, but it is mostly hairless. Local animal officials believe that the animal is nothing but a wild dog or possibly a coyote with mange, a common explanation offered in such cases.

The animal looks very similar to other ‘chupacabras’ specimens that have been found in Texas and other parts of the west. Dubbed ‘Texas blue dogs’ because of the tint of their skin, these animals are being reported with greater frequency from the southwest to the deep south.

Reports suggest that these strange canines can run as fast as thirty-five miles per hour. In 2008, DeWitt County deputy, Brandon Riedel captured footage of one of the animals using his patrol car’s dash camera.

Dr. Phylis Canion, a nutritionist from southern Texas found one of the creatures in 2007 on a road near her Cuero, Texas ranch. In an interview on “The Unexplained Files,” Canion stated that she believes the creature was responsible for almost 28 chickens killed on her property.

“Each time we found a chicken dead, it was opened up…in its throat area. It appeared that all the blood was out of it.”

The creature that Canion discovered weighed almost forty pounds had blue eyes and a long snout with a pronounced overbite.
DNA test conducted by the University of California, Davis, have suggested that the animal is a coyote/Mexican wolf hybrid. Canion herself disagrees and believes the animal is a separate species. She’s been studying the creatures for several years and has offered to pay for DNA testing on the animal killed in Mississippi.

Harrell however, threw most of the corpse away, keeping only the jawbone and teeth, along with a couple of clippings from the body. Canion is unsure if scientist will be able to obtain viable DNA for tests.

“I’ve seen a lot of nasty stuff. I’ve never seen anything like this” says Canion who spent four years in Africa. Her hope is that one of the animals can be captured alive for study and DNA. If that happens, perhaps science can prove once and for all if the legendary goat sucker is a new hybrid, or an undiscovered species.

Slenderman Paranoia

There's been a lot of attention drawn to Slenderman recently.  Is this a Internet meme or something more sinister?

I covered the history of this creature's genesis in my book Strange Intruders, but with recent criminal cases now making national news, there's more interest than ever, and with it, there are more questions than ever.

Ron Patton, publisher of Paranoia magazine has produced a special edition of the magazine featuring the Slenderman. 

Contributions from a wide range of writers are featured, and happy to have my own piece, "Tendrils of the Slenderman" included.

Check out the issue for some great reading on this weird topic, available at the Paranoia shop:

http://www.paranoiamagazine.com/shop/paranoia-59-fall-2014-pdf/

The Walking Shark

Sharks have been scaring people out of the water since well before Jaws set the image of the ocean predators in everyone’s mind. But the silliness of recent movies ‘Sharknado’ and ‘Ghost Shark’ may be nothing compared to the possibilities of a newly discovered species.

“Hemiscyllium Halmahera” a species of ‘walking’ shark has been found in the waters off of Indonesia. The shark uses its fins to push itself across the ocean floor as it searches for small fish and crustaceans.


Walking sharks are also known as bamboo sharks or longtail carpet sharks. The good news is they are harmless to humans and only grow up to about 47 inches in length. While the possibilities are intriguing, there are no records of the animals walking on land. Of course, this probably won’t stop a sci-fi B movie from developing the idea!
A video of this fascinating creature can be found here:

Show Low, AZ Bigfoot Sighting

Show Low is a small town in the eastern central part of Arizona.  It’s in Navajo County at an elevation of 6,400 feet.  The area has extensive forest and is a popular recreation spot.  Show Low is close to the White Mountain Apache tribe.  Natives in the region have long told stories of Sasquatch living in the area’s forest.

The report below is from a witness who encountered what he believes was a Bigfoot in Show Low, Arizona in September of 2012.  He and a friend were staying in Show Low and had started taking daily walks in the surrounding forest.

“My friend and I were taking a walk.  It was about five o’clock in the afternoon.  We heard an odd sound, sort of a low grumbling noise.  It was very deep, not like a dog but like something from a larger animal.  We both stopped and started looking around to see what had made the noise.  My friend spotted it first and pointed to me saying look!  Over by some pine trees there was a tall creature, I’d say it was around seven feet or a little more.  I couldn’t really see facial features very well because it all happened so fast.  The creature was brown in color and dirty looking.  The hair was long all over the body.  The shoulders were very broad and it didn’t really look like it had a neck at all, just bulky shoulders going straight into its head.  It was on two legs and I knew right away it wasn’t a bear or any other kind of animal that I had ever seen.  It looked at us and my first thought was that it was angry.  It made that grunting, growling sound again, then turned its back on us and walked away into the trees.  We got out of there right away as we were both afraid that the thing might change its mind and come back towards us.  The whole incident was probably less than a minute.  We didn’t go walking in that area anymore after seeing it, I know that it was a Bigfoot.”


 
 
 
Show Low is also near the Mogollon Rim, an escarpment that defines the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau.  The Mogollon Rim is known for its high limestone and sandstone cliffs.  Extensive pine forests cover both the slopes of the rim as well as the plateau.  The area has abundant wildlife and there have been numerous Bigfoot sightings over the years.

The Atlantic Sturgeon

There’s a creature living in the Atlantic ocean that looks like something from the age of dinosaurs.  It can reach lengths of fifteen feet and weigh up to eight hundred pounds.  It’s the Atlantic sturgeon.

In times past, the fish was in great abundance in the Atlantic.  Fishermen were not interested in the massive fish until the meat became popular as an export.  In more recent times, it has been caught primarily for the production of caviar.  The product became so popular that the fish is now endangered.

 

As of February 2012, this amazing fish was officially classified an endangered species.  The Atlantic sturgeon’s official range extends from New Brunswick, Canada to the eastern coast of Florida.  It’s considered threatened along its entire range, although it is completely absent from some of the areas that it previously populated.  In Virginia, in the Chesapeake watershed, the James river is one of the last confirmed holdouts for the fish and conversation efforts are underway.

Sturgeon are among the oldest living species of fish and have retained many primitive characteristics.  Rather than having true scales, the Atlantic sturgeon has five rows of bony plates called scutes causing it to have an “armored” appearance.  Coloring of the sturgeon ranges from blue-black to olive green with a white underside.

The sturgeon’s bony plates are not the only strange aspect of their appearance.  Their eyes are tiny and there are barbels on their face that help them locate prey in murky waters.  Their bizarre look makes it easy to imagine how early sailors must have responded when spotting these ‘sea monsters’ and it’s certainly feasible that they are responsible for some accounts of weird aquatic creatures.


In March 2012, a large carcass washed up on Folly Beach in South Carolina.  Area residents were puzzled by the massive carcass and there was much talk of the discovery of a ‘sea monster’.  The animal was soon identified by a local veterinarian from the South Carolina Aquarium as an Atlantic sturgeon.

Sturgeon have survived for over 100 million years.  An individual fish can live to be over 60 years of age.  Let’s hope this modern monster can survive the ravages of man.