THE TRUE STORY OF THE BOARMAN OF SEMINOLE WOODS!

Hello! My Name is Michael Lovero and I have a very 'Strange - But True' story to tell you. A few years ago me and my then girlfriend were driving down Seminole Woods in Palm Coast FL. It was about 8:00 or 8:30PM at night when something ran right in front of our car! Its eyes reflected off the lights of the car, and my girlfriend, who was driving at the time, slammed on the brakes!

We both just sat there quietly for a moment, trying to take in what we both knew that we had just seen. Now I just started dating her not too long ago, so not wanting to sound stupid, I thought that I'd ask her what she saw first.

I said to her, "Did you just see that?"

And she said, "yeah!"

I said, "Well,what did you see?"

She said, "It looked like a big wild boar running on two feet."

And I said, "Yeah, that's what I saw too!"

Only this thing had a human kinda body to it, only it had a boar's head, hands and feet. And it was covered all over with real dark fur. It stood about 5 feet and looked really mean and creepy! I know it sounds real stupid, but it was the scariest thing I ever saw! So we went home and told my family about it, and just as I thought, they just laughed and rightfully so. It is a stupid tale, for someone who hasn't seen it.

So I went on about my business and tried to put it in the back of my mind. But it always bugged me. I mean, this thing is running around Seminole Woods and nobody but me and my girlfriend has seen this? Somebody had to have seen this thing! We both can't be the only ones.

But I forgot about it until a few years later, when I got the answer to my question. I worked over at Palm Coast Data a while back, and I worked with a guy that we called Bone Baby. Well, one night Bone Baby came to work, and was very out of character. He was very quiet and looked kinda pale. We went outside for a smokebreak. I don't smoke, but I always went outside with them anyway just to talk a bit. Anyway, everyone's talking and Bone Baby's standing all alone in a corner and not saying anything. He always joined our conversation any other time, so we asked him if he was feeling well.

He said, "Guys... if I tell you something do you promise not to laugh?"

Curious, we promised not to. He said that he was staying over his friend's house in Seminole Woods, when they decided to go outside late that night and have themselves a smoke (and NO it was NOT POT). He said they seen something coming out of the canal.

Right there I stopped him, and I said, "Did it look like a Giant Boar standing on two feet?"

He turned white as a ghost, and said, "Dude, how the f*** did you know that?"

I said, "Because me and my girlfriend seen the same thing a few years ago."

He told me it had red eyes. When I seen it, I couldn't tell because the lights of our car hit them, and they reflected white. But anyway, now that I know that someone else has seen it, I have to know... Has anyone else seen this BoarMan in Seminole Woods?

WHAT IS THIS?

A bloke called Gary, who is obviously a decent fellow because he saw the Grateful Dead on the 1972 tour, sent this along yesterday. What is it?

My best guess is that it is a small cetacean of some description. But what do you think?

MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES:DID A CHINESE SHIP TAKE GIANT SLOTHS FROM ARGENTINA TO NEW ZEALAND? PART TWO.

Dear folks,

You may have read Part One of my blog on this subject; the farcical claim by Gavin Menzies that a Chinese vessel brought two living mylodons from the wilds of Patagonia to New Zealand. Firstly, how did the Chinese seamen capture them? How did they get them on board the ship? How can Menzies be sure the Chinese knew they were male and female? A website I found, called Gavin`s Fantasy Land (the author of the book who made the claim being Gavin Menzies) http://www.dightonrock.com/gavinsfantasyland.htm says:

'Why would the author even include such transparent nonsense,[ that mylodon`s still live in Patagonia] resurrecting an extinct mylodon? (On p.120 of his book Menzies says- “…in recent years, well preserved pieces of this creature, apparently buthchered by the local people,have been found in a cave,leading to the speculation that it may still exist in the wilds of Patagonia.”) We suggest Gavin doesn`t have any real evidence and he`s desperate. He`s setting up his “evidence” for a Chinese visit to New Zealand later, where a pair of these long extinct animals allegedly escape from the Chinese,and later on, he maintains, were the basis for a local legend. So therefore the Chinese must have picked up the mylodons first, as they passed by South America,so they could escape later in New Zealand.'

The author of this website then quotes from page 172 of Menzies book, which I mentioned in Part One of this blog, the “local people” who knew of the alleged wreck of a Chinese ship in Dusky Sound. The source cited in endnote 10 is Robyn Gossett, New Zealand Mysteries, Auckland,1996,p.31. Gossett explains it was not “local people” but the Maori who were keeper of the legend. Gossett devoted three pages to her detailed exploration of the legend,which included access to the log of Captain Robert Murry, who had been fourth officer on the ship. The wreck was not Chinese at all, but rather an English ship, the Endeavour, which went down in 1795.

So basically Menzies`s evidence that the Chinese took mylodons to New Zealand from Patagonia is based upon the flimsiest of evidence. Menzies also believes mylodons were taken to China from South America. A carving of an animal looking like a mylodon was dug up on the east coast of Australia near Gympie in 1966, thus supposedly proving Chinese visitation.

On a website connected to Menzies books there are numerous references to animals allegedly taken by the Chinese from one part of the world to another: The remainder of this blog quotes from this website:

• Take chickens, As late as 1600 Mediterranean peoples did not have and did know of the galaxy of Asiatic chickens found in the Americas. Asiatic chickens cannot fly; someone took them to the Americas before Europeans got there.

• Dogs: Chihuahuas were really Chinese dogs that were imported by merchants. One of the supporting theories is that the Asians dwarfed animals and trees and may similarly have reduced the size of the Chihuahua. The flat furry tail, an important part of the Chihuahua is also common to other Asian breeds of toy dogs. The Basenji dog of Central Africa resembles the Australian and Thai dingos,and it was long thought Polynesians brought them from the Malay Archipelago to Madasgascar. However recent DNA analysis suggests basenjis are closely related to dogs of Japan and China.

• Otters: domesticated otters,trained to fish,found in New Zealand,South Island, found in Ireland….Otters around the Isle of Skye-could they have been brought there by the Chinese fleets? More research needed.

• Camels to Peru

• Hippopotamus from Africa to China (Beijing Museum- `Western Han c.208BC`)

• Water buffalo to South America (Marajoara Island)

• Blue Magpie (Cyanopica cyanus) found only in southern Spain/Portugal and China and finally:

• Alligators - states that the species of alligator found in South Eastern United States is also found in but one other place on the planet; an isolated area along the Yangtze River in China. In every aspect other than size, they are identitical though found 12,000 miles apart. Perhaps this is not an anomaly of nature.
  

These last two are complete nonsense. It has recently been discovered that the two populations of the azure-winged magpie (not the blue magpie, which is another species entirely) are actually distinct species, and the Chinese and American alligators have a number of morphological and genetic differences, and are clearly distinct species.

ANARCHIST SOCIAL WORKERS ON THE RAMPAGE

Yer editor, with Noela Mackenzie, at 87 the oldest member of the CFZ, down the pub yesterday lunchtime...

I hope I still knock back the vodkas at her age.

LIZ CLANCY: Maternal Instinct

The recent story of the orphaned chihuahua nursed by a cat) reminded me of Jimbo, my cat. Her mothering skills were never called upon to help any of the many dogs our family had over the years but she did mollycoddle plenty of the other animals.

When one of the ducklings or chicks were rejected by their own mother Jimbo would helpfully step in, taking the abandoned birds under her wing (so to speak) and allowing them to share her food basket at night. In the earliest stages of their lives felid's fosterkids would follow their new Mam everywhere and when any of the other cats in the house showed an interest in the babies that, let's face it, was probably a more natural one in that they tried to eat them, Jimbo valiantly, like any mother, leapt in and defended her brood, tooth and claw.

Jimbo's efforts were not just restricted to unwanted birdies. My Uncle Michael was apparently distraught for several hours one day when Mary, one of his adored white mice went missing. The family searched high and low but the little rodent was eventually discovered safe and sound in Jimbo's basket.

The downside to the loveable felid's affection for all things helpless was that on at least one occasion I am aware of she had to be foreceably prevented from adopting a rat her brother Billy brought home stunned after a night on the prowl....

CARL SAGAN AND STEPHEN HAWKING SING

So many people have seen this now that you have all probably seen it already, and are spitting out curses at me for being horrifically behind the times. But I think it is marvellous. The creator, John Boswell aka Melody Sheep writes:

My own musical tribute to two great men of science. Carl Sagan and his cosmologist companion Stephen Hawking present: A Glorious Dawn - Cosmos remixed. Almost all samples and footage taken from Carl Sagan's Cosmos and Stephen Hawking's Universe series.

RIP Dr. Sagan, you will be missed!!

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday’s News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

It's time for the Friday Fact. Bet you can’t wait to see what surreal nonsense I’ve found out, probably involving Charles Hawtrey, this week:

The smallest adult vertebrate is the male angler fish, Photocorynus spiniceps, measuring 6.2mm.

And now, the news:

Burning bunnies helps keep people warm and cozy

Mother chooses pet crocodile over husband

Bogus snake signs to stop outdoor sex

World's tallest cat

That story about the cat is untrue, as this documentary proves:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-75sde6YYg&feature=related