WELL DONE DALE

It's Official: over one hundred thousand visitors to the Frontiers of Zoology blog in the first six months:

http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2011/08/over-hundred-thousand-visitors.html

RICHARD FREEMAN: Swallowed by the wilderness (Part Two)

Perhaps the strangest case involved an explorer almost forgotten in the modern age, and an equally obscure monster: Peter Grayson was an Oxford-educated businessman who set sail from England in 1917 with six companions. Their destination was the Richtersveld, a mountainous desert in South Africa’s Cape Province.

Stories told of a cave in the mountains known as the Wonder Hole or Bottomless Pit and filled with diamonds. A monster known as the grootslang supposedly guarded it. The grootslang was said to be a huge snake 40-50 feet long, and was said to have eyes like gems.

Some explorers claim to have seen the grootslang. One man told a South African newspaper that he seen such a creature, describing it as a monstrous snake more than 50 feet long. Another said that he saw two such creatures, but that he killed one with his high-powered rifle.

Other witnesses confirm the beast's length as 40 to 50 feet long and tell of 3-foot-wide tracks along the Orange River. Prospectors once followed the track for miles before it disappeared into the river.

Only one man (a prospector called Travis) has supposedly visited the Wonder Hole and lived to tell the tale. According to one account, he dropped his torch into the pit while descending and had to crawl his way back out through pitch darkness. One version tells that he was attacked by the grootslang, but survived by playing dead.

Grayson had consulted old maps and accounts from prospectors before his expedition left. On their first night in the bush, the party was attacked by a lion that killed one man and badly mauled another. A few days later, a third man was bitten by a snake and died. Yet another became seriously ill and begged to be taken back to civilization.

Two of the others took the sick man to the nearest village for medical attention. Grayson pushed on alone and a week later a rescue party found his empty camp. Peter Grayson was never seen again, and local stories had it that the grootslang had eaten him.

The big mistake all of these men made was going it alone. One man against the wilderness might look good on TV survival shows, but in reality it is very poor odds. On any expedition, you should have knowledgeable local guides and travel in a group. A man I know once tried to search for the orang-pendek in the jungles of western Sumatra. I’ve been there three times and can vouch for their deepness and tracklessness. His team consisted of him, his girlfriend and one guide. The guide was not an official park guide and knew very little about the area. The three of them became lost in the jungle for weeks. The man fell down a crevasse and broke several ribs. The ‘guide’ became so scared that he began to cry with fear, sobbing that he would never see his wife and children again. It was only by pure, blind luck that they stumbled into a logging camp and were taken back to civilization.

Remember if you try to do this sort of thing alone, the wilderness is waiting, and it is hungry.

WEIRD WEEKEND 2011: Oll Lewis

WEIRD WEEKEND SCRAPBOOK: The Saturday Boy

Saturday is always a hard slog if you’re working behind the scenes at the Weird Weekend and this year was no exception. Today there were 10 different speakers (not counting the other members of the forthcoming Sumatra expedition who joined Richard on stage after his talk to tell us briefly about their plans, and the CFZ Awards honourees and quiz teams) with talks lasting from midday until 11pm, although we do often over-run a tad. As far as I’m aware NO OTHER cryptozoological conference offers their ticket-holders such good value for money.

As ever I was responsible for filming every talk, which although might sound like easy work, is most certainly not as I have to be on the ball hunched over a camera sitting in an uncomfortable chair following the speakers round the stage, anticipating good moments for close-ups and slide changes, which is easier said than done especially if you get tired or leg cramps. Thankfully I had my secret weapons of cheap knock-off Red Bull and cramp-zapping tonic water to fall back on so things turned out ok. The advantage of being the camera man, though, is that I get to watch all the talks and every single one of them today was a corker. Although every one of the talks were brilliant my favourite tonight was Lee ‘Dead of Night’ Walker’s two stories.

Oh and for those wondering who the special guest I mentioned yesterday was, it was P.T. Barnum himself. I suggested to Jon that we summon the great showman in the CFZ time machine (which bears an uncanny resemblance to Silas Hawkins’s car) about 6 months ago and my talk this year was on Barnum and his friend Grizzly Adams, but this year he has by pure chance been mentioned in a few of the other lectures too, notably Peter Christies’s talk about Fortean North Devon where it was mentioned that Barnum’s friend and employee, the famed dwarf Tom Thumb’s ornate tiny carriage is actually on display in a local National Trust property. I shall have to see if I can convince Mrs Downes, who is an N.T. member, that a trip there would make a good CFZ outing… OLL LEWIS

WEIRD WEEKEND SCRAPBOOK: Friday

With the transportation of model monsters and setting up of stalls, the Weird Weekend banner finally rose scant seconds before the public began to arrive. The opening ceremony involved small children and a home-made orgone accumulator.

Barry Tadcaster and Ken Jevons, an orang-pendek from Catford, were the comperes. Ken is now employed by Catford Town Council as the ‘Avatar of Woe.’

Three speakers did turns: Oll Lewis on the man who fooled PT Barnum, Professor Bryan Sykes on genetics and genetic testing on possible yeti hair, and Dr Darren Naish on sea serpents and why it is unlikely they are survivors from prehistoric times.

Once again it was great to catch up with old friends like Bob and Sid of Apra Books and Adam Davies. RICHARD FREEMAN

HAUNTED SKIES: Irish Daily Star 1988

http://hauntedskies.blogspot.com/2011/08/irish-daily-star-1988.html

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

On this day in 1993 NASA lost contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft.
And now the news:

'Suicide bomber' bacteria destroys superbug
Bechstein's bats found in Trench Wood in Worcester...
Man Living With 154 Reptiles Arrested After Snake ...
Pig-Size South American Rodent Spotted in Central ...
New strategy needed to save mammals
'I'm the king of the swimmers': Rare sighting of o...
Key CITES meeting to address illegal ivory and rhi...
Fish, coral from off-limits Hawaii come to Waikiki...
Rescuers step up for cow rescue
Dreaded carp: Can they be stopped?
Mummy's boys exist in bird families too
Earthworms are the farmers new weapon against clim...
Vandals kill, mutilate catfish raised for school p...
WARNING NOT FOR THE FAINTHEARTED: Tourist attract...
Japanese advocate calls for halt to whale hunt

P.T. Barnum had a whale, you know; learn more about it here (it will also enrich your life):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBWR40DT5eE

CFZ NEW ZEALAND: Is this a UFO? An Unidentified Feline Object?

http://cfz-nz.blogspot.com/2011/08/is-this-ufo-unidentified-feline-object.html

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PINK-HEADED DUCKS IN MYANMAR

WEIRD WEEKEND SCRAPBOOK: Corinna on Friday night

http://cryptochick.blogspot.com/2011/08/friday-night-at-weird-weekend-2011.html

WEIRD WEEKEND SCRAPBOOK: Pictures from Thursday night

http://cryptochick.blogspot.com/2011/08/weird-weekend-thursday-18th-august-2011.html