At the beginning of the 21st Century monsters still roam the remote, and sometimes not so remote, corners of our planet. It is our job to search for them. The Centre for Fortean Zoology [CFZ] is - we believe - the largest professional, scientific and full-time organisation in the world dedicated to cryptozoology - the study of unknown animals. Since 1992 the CFZ has carried out an unparalleled programme of research and investigation all over the world. Since 2009 we have been running the increasingly popular CFZ Blog Network, and although there has been an American branch of the CFZ for over ten years now, it is only now that it has a dedicated blog.

Friday 30 September 2016

WHAT IS THIS?

I'm not sure what this is, but I'm showing you its picture in case it drops in for Hallowe'en.


POLEVIK

The Russian field spirit.

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SHINING GIANT HUMANOID


Report of encounter in Chile.



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GIGANTIC PRAYING MANTIS

Was it an alien?



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KAKAPO - EARTHBOUND PARROT

This flightless parrot is extremely rare.




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FLORIDA BIGFOOT

Skeptic reports sighting.



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OKLAHOMA BIGFOOT

Expert says it's probably there.



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NEW SPECIES IN INDIA

Discovery of a new species of sand fox and five new dragon-flies.

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ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD


On This Day in Weird, September 30...

1969: While driving through Fife Heights, near Tacoma, Washington, witnesses Dick Hancock and Gary Johnson claim they saw a Sasquatch run across the road in front of their vehicle, colliding with a metal road sign and leaving it bent.


Thursday 29 September 2016

HUNGARIAN FAIRY BELIEFS

What did the Hungarians believe about Fairies?




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REALLY STRANGE CREATURES

The existence of these animals is not in doubt - but some of them seem hardly believable.

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NEW BEE SPECIES CAUSES A BUZZ

And the reason these bees are peculiar is that they eat rocks.

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DOGMAN IN FLORIDA

Woman sees Dogman or something like it.



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UFOs/BIGFOOT CONFERENCE

The Greater New England UFO Conference is coming up and Bigfoot will feature in it.



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9 PRO-BIGFOOT ARGUMENTS

9 arguments in favor of the Hairy One's existence.



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ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD


On This Day in Weird, September 29...

1977: The Sioux Falls Argus-Leader describes an ongoing search for Bigfoot around Little Eagle, South Dakota, on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Mounted hunters and parties on foot stalk a foul-smelling creature seven to eight feet tall, that has left numerous humanoid footprints 16 to 18 inches long and eight inches wide, appearing to walk with a stride of six to eight feet. As usual, the intruder eludes all trackers.


Wednesday 28 September 2016

DIMINUTIVE BEING IN SPAIN

Report of a Dwarf in La Mancha.

(Site in Spoanish with good translation engine).



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CRESTED SNAKE

A Caribbean cryptid.

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WORLD'S LARGEST ANACONDA?


Captured in Brazil, it may be a world record.

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IS NESSIE A PLESIOSAUR?

Nick Redfern looks into this.

A pensive Nick Redfern


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SKEPTIC MEETS BIGFOOT

Skeptical hunter alleges Bigfoot encounter.



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BIG CATS AND PILOTS

Did pilots bring Alien Big Cats to Britain?



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ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD


On This Day in Weird, September 28...

1977: A Sasquatch "flap" begins in South Dakota, with Native American witnesses Nancy Chasing Hawk, Esther Thundershield, and Myron Fast Horse roused from home by howling in the night, east of Little Eagle on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Turning on lights, they see a tall, hairy bipedal creature with green eyes run into the nearby brush.


Tuesday 27 September 2016

SHUNKA WARAKIN SIGHTING?

Has this strange creature of Native American lore been seen?

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BIRD OF MEDIEVAL LORE

The Cinnamolgus was said to make its nest in the cinnamon tree.

Cinnamon Tree


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UNDISCOVERED SEA MONSTERS

Do sea monsters unknown to science inhabit the oceans?



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LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF

An overall look at the lore of this creature.



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WITNESS RUNS FROM BIGFOOT


Exactly what I would do, I suspect.



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BIGFOOT AND PARANORMAL

Dr Matthew Johnston discusses his findings leading from Bigfoot to the paranormal.  



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BIGFOOT SEARCH IN OHIO

A search from the water.



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NEW REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS

Article from Zoo Systematics and Evolution.  Includes possible new species.

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NEW SHUKER COMPENDIUM

Just published by CFZ Press: Here's Nessie, a compendium of the writings on the Loch Ness Monster by Dr Karl Shuker, the eminent cryptozoologist.  Its available on Amazon at $19.99.


ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD


On This Day in Weird, September 27...

1870: Oakland, California's Daily Transcript newspaper reports that hunters Samuel de Groot and F. J. Hildreth have seen "gorillas" along Orestimba Creek, a tributary of the San Joaquin River draining eastern slopes of the Diablo Range in Stanislaus County, within the San Joaquin Valley of California.


Orestimba Creek today

Monday 26 September 2016

ARE MERMAIDS MYTHICAL?

A look at the Merfolk.




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ORIGIN OF THE CHUPACABRAS


Has the identity of this creature been solved?



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MONSTERS OF SOUTH DAKOTA

A look at the unknown animals of this state.

Flag of South Dakota


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GRUMPY BIGFOOT

Reportedly aggressive Bigfeet.


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BIGFOOT AT BEAR CREEK

Are the sounds coming from the Hairy One?




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YIN-SHU: A MAMMOTH MISTAKE

On
finding the remains of mammoths in the ice, a myth grew up that they were a gigantic sort of mole.



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ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD


On This Day in Weird, September 26...

1968: The Arkansas Gazette newspaper (now the Democrat-Gazette, published in Little Rock) reports that multiple witnesses have sighted "a thing that looks like a man but has a gorilla head" around the city of Hamburg, seat of Ashley County, near the state's border with Oklahoma.


Sunday 25 September 2016

HUEƑAUCA - VOLCANO GOATMAN

A strange creature from South America.  Is it purely mythical?

volcano


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UNKNOWN SEA CREATURES

Ten of them found in Antarctic waters.

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WHAT WAS THE BLUE-EYED MONSTER?

It was caught, but those to hand could not identify it.  A story from 1904.

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SHERMAN CREATURES


What were these mysterious entities?

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WEREHYENAS

Belief in werehyenas is quite widespread.



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UNEXPECTED BIGFOOT SIGHTING

Encounter by students.



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BIGFOOT ON FARM

Audio recording - have a listen.



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ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD


On This Day in Weird, September 25...

1978: While investigating a disturbance among chickens and horses at her rural home in southern Curry County, Oregon, witness Barbara Megli reportedly sees a Sasquatch standing in a nearby forest clearing.


Saturday 24 September 2016

OGOPOGO UNPUBLISHED ACCOUNTS


Accounts of Canada's famous lake monster.




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CREATURE OF TERMON

Ah, back to my native country, where the shamrocks are spouting even as I speak.  This deals with a very strange creature.  A woman, entering her barn in the vicinity of Termon, encountered this beastie.  She described it as being dark, with a long nose, four humps and a tail.  It has a juvenile creature with it.  Earlier, in the same area, a dark creature was reported blocking the road in 2005.  It had a large head and plunged through a roadside fence.

This animal sounds rather like an elephant, but I can assure the reader that elephants do not wander the Irish wilderness.  However, what it might have been was a sea-elephant or elephant seal.  I cannot guess what else it might be.

Elephant Seal

DID HUMANS KILL HOMO FLORESIENSIS?

There is evidence that some hominids were killed by humans.



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BIGFOOT IN MISSISSIPPI

Was he caught on video?

Image courtesy Lon Stricklet


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THE PROBLEM OF ISOLATES

The problem of isolates continues to exercise what is left of my brain.  By isolates I mean cryptids that have been reported once, but they are never seen again.  As creatures such as Bigfoot and Champ have been reported on sundry occasions, we know that, if they exist, there is probably a population of them.  The same can not be said of the isolated cryptid which is seen once and seen no more.

The following is a list of possible explanations of such creatures.

[1] The witness is mistaken (or even mendacious) in reporting the animal.  He has either misinterpreted the data or has not seen anything at all.  

[2] The animal is a freak of nature,  a mutant, and is the only one of its kind.  It has nous enough to, as Joel Chandler Harris might have said, lie low and say nuffin.

[3] The animal exists in another dimension or universe and has somehow strayed into ours.  This may seem beyond the bounds of possibility to some, but multiple universes are now receiving some interest from physicists and cannot be ruled out.




[4] The animal is an escapee from a laboratory and is the result of genetic experimentation.  It may not survive or it may be recaptured.

[5] The animal may be hallucinatory.  I suspect an hallucination caused by the temporal lobe of the brain might be responsible.  The temporal lobe can produce two types of hallucination.  Temporal Lobe Epilepsy has to be engendered by a blow to the head.  Temporal Lobe Lability soes not require any such blow.  Both can cause hallucinations.  The animal may also be some kind of projection from the witness' brain.

[6] One must always leave the door open for other explanations that haven't occurred to me yet.  



BIGFOOT IS NEARBY

The writer claims to live near Bigfoot.



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ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD


On This Day in Weird, September 24...

1959: Tennessee's Knoxville Journal reports that witnesses John Rosenbaum and Earl Taylor fired shots at a Sasquatch approaching their home on Clapps Chapel Road, in Corryton.


Clapps Chapel Road