CRYPTOZOOLOGY ONLINE: Still on the Track: 09/07/12

Friday, September 07, 2012

MATT OSBORNE: Unfortunate signage fail

If the Newbridge is Week, fix it not sign it....

LINDSAY SELBY: The Lake Conway Monsters.

Lake Conway is a 6,700-acre lake in Arkansas.. It is a man made reservoir and it’s construction began in 1948 from the original lake. Lake Conway has an average depth of 6 feet (2 metres) deep, and is 18 feet (5 metres) at the deepest point . It also has alleged monsters. There have been stories about large brown fish that lurk in it’s depths and in December 2003 John Mazurek Sr. caught a good-sized octopus at the lake's dam. It was thought someone had dumped it there.

Then there is the bigfoot type creature. It is said to smell terrible like the Skunk Ape .

In the early 1950s, several reports were made about a strange and unidentified creature seen and heard (and presumably smelled) in and around the lake. In the 1950s, the reports came to a sudden halt when Frank Robins Jr., then the publisher of the Log Cabin Democrat. Robins simply ordered, "No more stories on the Lake Conway Monster unless they are accompanied by a photograph."

The Lake Conway Monster stories reached a peak in the 1970s and less and less reports are now found. No photographs are known to exist of the creature .At the time it created great excitement and hysteria but now is almost forgotten.

Here is a personal report report of an encounter with the creature: http://www.texasbigfoot.com/reports/report/detail/353

So what is it? Is it collective hysteria that has now died down? Or could it be that the work on the dam and building the reservoir disturbed some creature’s habitat? And what of the monster fish said to lurk in the bottom of the lake? At only 18 feet at it’s deepest point there cannot be a huge fish but it is not unknown for Alligator gar and catfish to grow very large.

If anyone has heard of any recent sightings or has anything to add please leave a comment.

LINK: The Tall Tale of the Sicilian Sea Serpent

In June 1877 the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty received official reports from the Royal Yacht Osborne, forwarded by Commander Pearson, regarding the sighting of an unidentified marine creature seen on the second day of that month off Cape Vito, Sicily. The documents were passed on to Right Hon. R. A. Cross, Secretary of State for the Home Department, who in turn sought the opinion of Frank Buckland in an attempt to identify whatever it was that had been seen and Buckland further consulted Professor Richard Owen, Mr. A. D. Bartlett of the Zoological Gardens, Captain David Gray of the whaling ship Eclipse and Mr. Henry Lee of the Brighton Aquarium on the matter.

The Royal Yacht Osborne

Commander Pearson’s report read: -

“I myself saw the fish through a telescope, but at too great a distance (about 400 yards) to be able to give a detailed description; but I distinctly saw the seal-shaped head, of immense size, large flappers, and part of a huge body.”

Read on...

DALE DRINNON: Giant Sloth/Cedar and Willow

New at Frontiers of Zoology, a posting forewarded from the Global Warming and Terraforming Terra site:

http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2012/09/swamp-ape-search-finds-giant-sloth.html

And at Cedar and Willow:

http://cedar-and-willow.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-later-iron-men-and-surprising.html

I'M YER GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN

Have you noticed a certain trend on the Gonzob Daily? Everyone is slowly getting radicalised which cannot be a bad thing. My particular Emma Goldmanesque part of the revolution is fuled by the fact that my Hi-Fi amp has returned better than ever, and the new speakers sound fantastic. I can annoy the neighbours with style, aplomb and flair. (Actually, the cottage is over 200 years old, the cob walls are six foot thick and virtually soundproof. Life is good.

Our daily visit to the universe of Thom the World Poet, who today states that 'my love poems are my political poems', which is a strangely apposite echo of the Crass lyric book 'Love songs'.
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/09/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_8.html

While I was pootling about on the Internet the other night, I found this rather spiffing performance by our very own Chris Thompson together with "The Soulmates". Live on "50 Jahre Rock" 2005. My very limited knowledge of the German language leads me to suspect that this was some sort of celebration showcasing the half century since Elvis first did his inimatable thing on Sun Records. But I may be completely wrong. Ask Rob Ayling, he will sadly confirm that I am not quite infallible..
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/09/from-archives-chris-thompson-on-german.html

I watched the Wally live DVD the other night, and jolly good it was too. I will be doing a review and posting some odds and ends on these pages soon. However, a few days later I received this review from Germany of their reunion album Montpelier (which is jolly good, by the way). However, the review was so peculiar that I have really no idea what the guy is getting at. But, being in a peculiar mood myself this fine September morning I decided to post it anyway..
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/09/link-peculiar-wally-review.html

Another communique from the heart (or should that be art?) of the revolution. Man the barricades brothers and sisters. The game is well and truly afoot.
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-communique-from-michael-des-barres_8.html

I really don't know why it has taken so long for us to post anything about Steve Hillage. He is not only one of the pioneering spacerock guitarists, but his music is never far away from my hi-fi. On top of that, in one of my other incarnations (as editor of UFO Matrix magazine I often reference songs of his (like 1977's 'Light in the Sky', featuring immensely sexy vocals by long time partner Miquette Giraudy). So why have I left it until now to add him to the Gonzo Daily thingy? God alone knows...
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/09/link-steve-hillage-interview.html

The other day I bought myself a shirt emblazoned with Emma Goldman's famous aphorism about dancing. It seems to have inspired me, and I am passing this inspiration on to everyone I can. Michael Des Barres has grabbed the baton and is running with it heroically...
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/09/i-think-this-speaks-for-itself.html

Jefferson Starship and their various side projects have been part of the soundtrack to my life for decades now. It is an honour to be able to be a minor cog in their publicity machine...
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/09/link-rock-concert-review-jefferson.html

The Gonzo Daily is a two way process. If you have any news or want to write for us, please contact me at jon@eclipse.co.uk. If you are an artist and want to showcase your work, or even just say hello please write to me at gonzo@cfz.org.uk. Please copy, paste and spread the word about this magazine as widely as possible. We need people to read us in order to grow, and as soon as it is viable we shall be invading more traditional magaziney areas. Join in the fun, spread the word, and maybe if we all chant loud enough we CAN stop it raining. See you tomorrow...

HAUNTED SKIES: Observer (The) 26.4.68.

http://hauntedskies.blogspot.com/2012/09/observer-26468.html

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

On this day in 1637 Robert Fludd died. Fludd was an ocultist and alternative physician who believed in cosmology rather than science.

And now the news:

Any excuse for an Al Stewart song (it's sort of related to Fludd, kind of, maybe) :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pECDCC6V5hI

ANDREW MAY: Words from the Wild Frontier

News and stories from the remoter fringes of the CFZ blogosphere...

From Nick Redfern's World of Whatever:

Neil Arnold on Binnall of America — A conversation with the author of Monster! - The A-Z of Zooform Phenomena...
A Super-sized Salamander — A new theory of the Loch Ness Monster...
Hoaxing 1 to 10 — Ten infamous hoaxes, ufological and cryptozoological...
Peacock High-Strangeness — On Peacocks, Bigfoot and other strange things...

From CFZ Australia:

Zookeeper the latest 'big cat' witness in Victoria — A dingo-sized panther...

CRYPTOZOOLOGY ONLINE: On The Track (Of Unknown Animals) Episode 60

The latest episode of our monthly webTV show from the CFZ and CFZtv, bringing you news on our activities within cryptozoology and natural history as well as the latest cryptozoological and monster-hunting news from around the world. I can't believe that we have done this every month for five years now - 60 episodes. Golly!

This episode brings you:

CFZ in summer
Weird Weekend
The Crypto Community
Breeding Caecilians
Mystery cat sounds
Otoliths of unknown cichlids
Corinna looks at out of place birds
New and Rediscovered: New 'penis head' fish
New and Rediscovered: New molar-less rodent
New and Rediscovered: New sharks

KARL SHUKER: When did the Carolina Parakeet really die out?

Check it out...