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Archive for June, 2013

Who Killed the Minnesota Iceman?

Sunday, June 30th, 2013

In 1969, the world turned its attention to an extraordinary claim published in an article by the Argosy magazine: the discovery of a fresh corpse, preserved in ice, that would fill “the gap between ape and man.”

A year earlier, a man named Frank Hansen had shot and killed a bipedal creature in the woods of Minnesota. Whether real or fake, the specimen exhibited a gunshot through the eye and a broken arm; at least that’s what Steve Busti, owner of the Museum of the Weird in Texas, found out this year when he bought the corpse from the family of its owner in Minnesota.

At first, Hansen claimed he’d found the creature in Siberia, while working for a billionaire. Later, he changed his story and admitted to killing the primate in the Minnesota woods. He then froze it and started displaying it at carnivals, charging 25 cents to everyone who wanted to take a look. That was before two cryptozoologists got involved with the Smithsonian to request an official investigation into the possibility of the beast being a man from the Ice Age. So what did Hansen do? He allegedly replaced the body with a fake one before the investigation took place. The FBI was then put on alert by the Smithsonian under the suspicion of a murder coverup.

The Minnesota Iceman

Fedor Jeftichew portrait, circa 1880s

Hypertrichosis is a disease characterized by the abnormal growth of body hair. Also known as the werewolf syndrome, people suffering this disease were often exposed to public amusement at circuses around the world. There is the possibility that Hansen really found a dead body in Siberia and brought it over with him to North America. Or maybe he shot what he thought to be a Bigfoot, an iceman, a monkey, or some sort of beast. If that’s the case, it is unknown what would cause a well balanced human being to shoot something for its mere appearance, and not for food or self defense. Respect for all sorts of life, including cryptid’s is something most cryptozoologists would agree with; but it is undeniable that fear of the unknown usually incites violence in humans. This curse then accentuates as a person’s brain gathers multiple stereotypes and social orders in an attempt to relieve themselves from their own defects.

It is possible that the hypertrichosis theory was among many factors that brought the FBI’s attention to the case. Luckily -or not- for Hansen, after the body was replaced with a latex figure, the FBI decided not to dive into the case. After all, it is hard to believe that a man that commits a murder could feel the impulse to advertise his crime by exposing the body for everyone to see.

Later, a woman came forward claiming it was her who had shot the creature. Helen Westring said she had been hunting near Bemidji, Minnesota, when she killed the beast by putting a bullet through its right eye. Almost simultaneously, Howard Ball, a man that worked for Disnelyland making rubber figures, said he and his son had created the “Iceman” in an attempt to recreate a Cro-Magnon man.

Another possibility is that the killed animal was a mutant primate similar to Oliver, the chimp with human face. His story proves one more time that what’s not understood by humans is generally first enslaved, then exposed to experimental torture and finally destroyed.

As you can see, the story of the Minnesota Iceman is packed with mystery, skepticism, creepiness and even murder theories.

Starting July 3, the Museum of the Weird will be exhibiting it for everyone to see. Perhaps it is now the time for a thorough examination of the corpse to determine the validity of this case.

Was the alleged replacement of the corpse by a latex model the preemptive attempt to protect a new species? Was it a murder? A hoax?

Or was this the result of a darker conspiracy in order to coverup the discovery of a living human primate that otherwise would have challenged the status quo of mainstream Science, and prompted the inevitable replacement of billions of outdated history textbooks at schools and colleges worldwide? We will never know.

Posted in 4 Column | 1 Comment »

Pterodactyl in the Corn Fields of Missouri

Friday, June 28th, 2013

By Lars Plougmann (originally posted to Flickr as In the corn field) [CC-BY-SA-2.0]

Something is up in Altamont, MO.

It’s summer and the high temperatures are not helping farmers. Even though it hasn’t been a dry year in the state, the last few weeks have been a little hotter than usual.

“When some of us go water the plants at night, we notice the mess,” said Adrian, -his last name was omitted as he wished to remain anonymous- who has been farming for over 20 years. “I got a phone call from my son Anthony at 2 in the morning, he was very agitated, I figured something was very wrong.” That’s all Adrian needed to hear; for two weeks, his family has been living in a state of stress and insomnia. Every other night, when they drive to their land to water their corn field, there are bouts of noises they have never heard before.

“See we don’t know what that is. We know there are animals out here, we know that, but this sound gives me the goosebumps. It goes like a tapping sound as if somebody was chattering their teeth, only much more faster and louder, then silence, then shrieking. This ain’t coyotes or wolves or anything like that. I saw something and that is not from this land. That I’m sure. It was there standing before me, pointed the flashlight at it, it was darn big. Then a sudden movement, fast as heck, and it was gone. The plants moving like jelly, dust all over my face.”

By Pearson Scott Foresman [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Adrian’s son describes an eight foot tall winged creature with a long muzzle that resembled “the face of an alligator.” The animal was featherless and its skin was grey, with a wingspan of over 80 feet that looked like “the wings of a bat.” The almond-shaped eyes appeared red under the stream of light pointing at them -known characteristic of certain rodents, opossums and birds- but they were most likely brown or black in color.

The legend of a giant bird, also known as “Thunderbird”, is known among Native Americans from the Pacific Northwest.

Interestingly, it wasn’t Indians that showed evidence of the bird for the first time. In 1890, a strange story was published on the Arizonian newspaper The Tombstone Epitapth.

 

 

Tombstone Epitaph
April 26, 1890

FOUND IN THE DESERT
A STRANGE WINGED MONSTER DISCOVERED AND KILLED ON THE HUACHUCA DESERT
A winged monster, resembling a huge alligator with an extremely elongated tail and an immense pair of wings, was found on the desert between the Whetsone and Huachuca mountains last Sunday by two ranchers who were returning home from the Huachucas. The creature was evidently greatly exhausted by a long flight and when discovered was able to fly but a short distance at a time. After the first shock of wild amazement had passed, the two men, who were on horseback and armed with Winchester rifles, regained sufficient courage to pursue the monster and after an exciting chase of several miles succeeded in getting near enough to open fire with their rifles and wounding it.

The creature then turned on the men, but owing to its exhausted condition they were able to keep out of its way and after a few well directed shots the monster partly rolled over and remained motionless. The men cautiously approached, their horses snorting with terror, and found that the creature was dead. They then proceeded to make an examination and found that it measured about ninety-two feet in length and the greatest diameter was about fifty inches. The monster had only two feet, these being situated a short distance in front of where the wings were joined to the body.

The head, as near as they could judge, was about eight feet long, the jaws being thickly set with strong, sharp teeth. Its eyes were as large as a dinner plate and protruded about half way from the head. They had some difficulty in measuring the wings as they were partly folded under the body, but finally got one straightened out sufficiently to get a measurement of seventy-eight feet, making the total length from tip to tip about 160 feet. The wings were composed of a thick and nearly transparent membrane and were devoid of feathers or hair, as was the entire body. The skin of the body was comparatively smooth and easily penetrated by a bullet.

The men cut off a small portion of the tip of one wing and took it home with them. Late last night one of them arrived in this city for supplies and to make the necessary preparations to skin the creature, when the hide will be sent east for examination by the eminent scientists of the day. The finder returned early this morning accompanied by several prominent men who will endeavor to bring the strange creature to this city before it is mutilated.

You can read the original text here.

Despite the unnecessary use of violence depicted on the story -a cryptozoologist’s first rule is an extreme respect for the cryptid being studied- the description is very similar to the creature that the family in Missouri witnessed a few days ago. Allegedly, the paper also carried a picture of the bird; researchers all across the internet and forum members have looked for this photograph to no avail.

Mr Pino’s photograph of alleged pterodactyl. Originally published in Los Andes newspaper

In 2009, the Argentinian newspaper Los Andes published images of a winged creature flying over the lake El-Nihuil. In the UK, the Telegraph covered the incident under the title “UFO or pterodactyl over Argentinian lake?”

“The object, photographed by a fisherman near San Rafael over an artificial lake called El-Nihuil, was, according the the newspaper Los Andes, witnessed by more than one person.”

The possibility of a pterodactyl-like creature inhabiting the lands of America remains open for most serious cryptozoologists. Unlike mammals, birds have an ample opportunity to hide away from the human eye, nest somewhere away from any sign of civilization and only come down at night to hunt their prey. Many pictures portraying giant birds have been doctored before in the past, making researchers wary of these type of claims. Adrian said he will set up a few trail cameras along the corn field to see “what comes up.” Until then, we will have to stick to their testimony.

Posted in 4 Column | 1 Comment »

Five People See Monster at Lake Champlain

Tuesday, June 25th, 2013

Lake Champlain, 1875. Boston Public Library

It was getting dark when the Joneses spotted the creature.

Martin Jones, husband and father of two, says he has heard stories about a lake monster before.

“I’m aware of the Champ legend, but I always dismissed it as silly tales that are good for tourism,” he said.

Jones wasn’t the only one person to witness the incident. His wife Tamara and his two children were also present at the lake.

“We thought we’d spend the day somewhere nice, let the kids do some fishing and eat some, you know, but you never expect something like this,” she said.

The event took place after one of the kids reeled in a largemouth bass. A splash turned their heads away from the fish back to the water: a big, greenish thing came up through the surface. At first they weren’t able to make out the shape. There was another man fishing next to them.

“I was like, is that an alligator? But right away I saw the round head and big black eyes, kind of an empty look, there was nothing that resembled a reptile of any kind” said Peter Clark, 48. ” I could make up some scales on the side of the head, but most of the skin I’d say looked like that of a catfish. Then, some sort of horn or spike or something, that was freaky, really. It was there for 20 seconds and then it left.”

Whale’s blowhole

But what makes this sighting different from the others is that the beast produced a sound. The five witnesses agree that it reminded them of a whale’s noise followed by a splash.

The lake Champlain is located between the US and Canada and it is over 100 miles long and 12 miles wide. It is indirectly connected to the Atlantic Ocean, so the possibility of a cetacean sneaking into the lake can not be discarded, however it’d be very difficult for this to happen. The blowholes located on top of the head of a whale would explain the need of the animal to come up to the surface to breath; that would also explain the reported sightings every year.

How about the scales on the side of the head described by Mr Clark? Whales don’t have scales or spikes. Could it be that what looked like a horn to the witness was just vegetation, debris tangled on the animal’s head?

Throughout our e-mail correspondence with the two parties, we asked for some evidence to support this report, such as pictures or video, but we came empty handed. Although it seems hard to believe that in this digital era no pictures or videos were taken, take into consideration that 20 seconds is not much time; putting the fishing rod down, bringing the phone or camera out of your pocket and finding the app to take the shot -all while watching a giant monster put up a good show- seems a little difficult to do. Do you ever wonder why most of the alleged pictures of strange creatures appear blurry? I am sure you’d have a shaky hand too.

A big thank you to the Jones family for reporting this sighting and for providing us with a way to contact Peter Clark. If you were there and have further information regarding the case, please contact us.

Posted in 3 Column | 5 Comments »

Thylacine Back to Life?

Sunday, June 23rd, 2013

Thylacine from The Book of the Animal Kingdom, 1910

The Thylacine, an extinct marsupial that looked like a cross between a hyena and a tiger, is about to get a second chance in life. A team of scientists in Australia that believe are capable of bringing extinct species back to life, are working on reviving the Tasmanian Tiger.

Back in March, Professor Mike Archer, leader of the Lazarus Project, announced that his team had finally created cloned embryos of the extinct Australia’s southern gastric-brooding frog, which became extinct in 1983. But this is just the beginning: hundreds of other species could be put back on Earth by the scientist’s method; by gathering fragmented DNA they were able to recover intact genes that will be used to rebuild the animal’s entire genetic code.

The gastric-brooding frog giving birth through its mouth. (Credit: Mike Tyler, 1973)

Critics have raised questions about the ethics of recreating an extinct animal, suggesting that we shouldn’t interfere with nature. To these people, one would think, the name Wilf Batty should undoubtedly ring a bell.

Batty, a farmer from Mawbanna, Tasmania, shot dead the last wild Thylacine because, according to him, the creature was eating his chickens. The bullet penetrated the shoulder of a male Tasmanian Tiger, leaving him alive for another 20 minutes. This was the farmer’s great opportunity to make history, giving Pat O’Halloran -friend of Batty- time to take pictures of the wounded animal waiting to die. The next day he sold the carcass for £5 to an animal dealer.

Proud Wilf Batty poses with the last wild Thylacine after he shot it

Ever since this incident, witnesses have reported Thylacine sightings in the wild. It could be possible, but very unlikely. Given the geographical features of Australia, it is very hard for a specie to recover within an island once its numbers have been reduced to possibly zero.

By Quadell CC-BY-SA-2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Grey Wolf of North America could have followed the same fate as the Thylacine, hadn’t the Congress enacted the Endangered Species Act in 1973. Today, after the Grey Wolf’s numbers has been recovered considerably, the debate whether Americans should be able to start shooting them has begun again. Accusations of the predator killing poultry and cattle flood the local papers and TV stations that, not having much to report, resort to ridiculous statistics stirring the minds of prejudiced viewers. The Thylacine was likewise accused of killing sheep, and with the excuse, farmers persecuted the animal to extinction. But now science says otherwise: this carnivorous marsupial had jaws so weak that were incapable of hunting preys larger than a possum.

The Tasmanian Tiger never got a chance.

So, if we can take species out of this world, why shouldn’t we be able to bring them back? As preposterous as it may sound, this is the least we can do for them.

Sometimes it makes you think whether elusive creatures such as Bigfoot should remain just the way they are, undiscovered, for their own safety. Unless, that is, humankind finally realizes how damaging to nature we can be.

Posted in 2 Column | No Comments »

Loch Ness Monster Museum Owner Arrested

Sunday, June 23rd, 2013

There are a few visitor centers located in Nessie territory. Two of them, the Loch Ness Exhibition Centre and Nessie Land have been engaged in different arguments for a long time. Unfortunately, this time someone got in trouble.

Donald Skinner, the owner of Nessie Land, was arrested after stealing a sign belonging to the Loch Ness Exhibition Center because it was blocking one of his signs. Mr Skinner, admits to taking the sign but he “did not intend to keep it“ and has already given it to the police, the Daily Record reports.

It is apparent that Nessie has been on the news for the wrong reasons lately. We learned a few days ago about the politics surrounding the Loch Ness monster and tourism, leading to the resignation of three politicians.

In the mean time, let us hope that researchers at the lake are doing their job and not fighting with one another. Although if you think about it, these people have lived there for so long that they have become sort of a family and as you know, families often tend to argue. A family just like Nessie. Imagine for a second the way it used to be during the Middle Ages: peasants and lords, kings and queens, peace and war…all this while the Loch Ness monster remained immutable to human interaction.

Best wishes to Mr Skinner, hoping the problem gets resolved soon.

via the Daily Record.co.uk

Cherry Island at Loch Ness photo taken by Nilfanion (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Posted in 4 Column | No Comments »

Chupacabra in Texas?

Friday, June 21st, 2013

From Oklahoma to Texas. Last week, the picture of a small Chupacabra climbing on a fence in an Oklahoma neighborhood made some people uneasy and others skeptic. Children were warned to keep an eye while playing outside.

Today, Kens 5 from San Antonio reports another sighting; Margaux Huckabay says his brother took a video of a strange animal crossing the road in the city limits.

The video, which was taken at night, shows a medium size creature that resembles a coyote at first sight, but the tail is excessively long for a coyote. The nose also tends to be shorter in this species of canine. What it could be is a feral dog with a genetic mutation or some sort of disease. The picture however -it happens most of the time with cryptid’s photographs- is a little blurry. It looks like a scared, hungry animal, and not the type of Chupacabra you might expect.

What makes this sighting a little weak is that according to hundreds of Chupacabra reports, the animal is usually described as sharing reptilian as well as mammalian features.What is your take on this?

via Kens 5 from San Antonio

Chupacabra illustration on Cover By Alvin Padayachee [see page for license], via Wikimedia Commons

Posted in 1 Column | 1 Comment »

VIDEO OF BIGFOOT STALKING MAN AND HIS DOGS

Wednesday, June 19th, 2013

The video shows a man in what looks like a house deck in the woods, at night time. The camera points at two shiny eyes behind a bush, as though the creature was waiting for the man to come out. Next to the man are his two mastiff dogs. The pets show fear and confusion, which adds more credibility to the video.

The bright eyes are located on the front of the head, a physical feature that most predators share.

The YouTube user that took the video, BadAssPimpMasterFlex, can be heard throughout the footage, wondering what the creature might be.

Please be warned that he uses some foul language during the video. He attributes this to the frightening situation.

Could it be a cougar, maybe? Or perhaps a curious black bear? We don’t know, as the author never makes the location, state or type of region clear. If you read through the comments on the video at YouTube, you’ll see most people are asking for a location and some daylight footage, to no avail. We hope we can come up with more information regarding this case.

What do you think the eyes are?

Posted in 1 Column | 5 Comments »

Bigfoot Prints Cause Panic in Asian Village

Tuesday, June 18th, 2013

Kuala Pilah resident Adnan Pungut, 48, says his neighbors are afraid of going into the forest after the discovery of over 200 footprints of an unknown bipedal creature. The villagers estimate that the footprints belong to an animal weighting around 220 pounds. They have decided to let authorities pursue the animal just in case “it is endangered.”

Last month a group of children in Africa panicked over the sightings of little creatures going back and forth around a school.

via The Star

Posted in 3 Column | No Comments »

Man Captures Skunk Ape on Video

Monday, June 17th, 2013

A man from Florida has captured pictures and video of what could be the Skunk Ape, also known as the Myakka Ape. The footage was taken in Myakka River State Park in Sarasota County. He and his son were driving when they spotted a dark. fast moving figure in the fields. At that moment, they pulled over and chased the creature with their smart phones. On the video, you can see others stopping their cars and start watching in awe; you can hear them talk about two big sized deer they come across, which they suppose the Skunk Ape was after.

The Skunk Ape is known for its horrible smell and it is supposed to live in the Florida Everglades, although there are reports that have placed the fearless ape in some Midwest states.

The footage is kind of grainy and it was taken with an iPhone 4S. The man took some clearer still shots but you can definitely see something moving fast across the fields.

via YouTube and Mike Falkoner “Mopower08″

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Tibetan Monk Claims Yeti Broke Into Temple

Monday, June 17th, 2013

Today we received an e-mail about a monk from Tibet who claims the Yeti broke into a temple. The event has caused such a stir in the village that authorities have sent investigators to discard a hoax.

“There was hair and blood everywhere…everything was broken apart!” said Ngawang, a 54 year old man living in the closest village to the monastery. Purportedly, traces of white hair were recovered by the monks, and stored in a jar that would be placed next to the Yeti scalp displayed at Khumjung monastery.

This is not the first time that physical evidence is collected from the body of the “Abominable Snowman”. On March 1954, expedition teams found what is believed to be a Yeti scalp composed of brown and red hair. Unsuccessful efforts were made to determine the origin of the forensic evidence, which until this day remain unknown.

We have yet to see if science will be able to debunk the existence of a giant primate roaming the white mountains of the Himalayas.
Ngawang said he’d try and take some pictures of the evidence and e-mail them to Cryptozoology News.

Did you know James Stewart reportedly smuggled the hand of a Yeti on a flight from India to London?

Yeti illustration by Lizard King at en.wikipedia [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], from Wikimedia Commons

Yeti scalp picture by Nmnogueira at en.wikipedia [CC-BY-SA-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], from Wikimedia Commons

Posted in 4 Column | No Comments »

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