WELCOME TO THE CFZ BLOG NETWORK: COME AND JOIN THE FUN

Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

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Unlike some of our competitors we are not going to try and blackmail you into donating by saying that we won't continue if you don't. That would just be vulgar, but our lives, and those of the animals which we look after, would be a damn sight easier if we receive more donations to our fighting fund. Donate via Paypal today...




Monday, June 03, 2013

A STAR IS BORN: Joe Thomas et al

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CRYPTOLINK: The Origin of the Bigfoot Legend


bigfootA word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting, usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me.

Today I found out the origin of the Bigfoot legend.
Stories of a giant, hairy creature that appears half man and half ape have existed in various parts of the world for many centuries. In fact, the only continent not to have stories of “wild men” is Antarctica. In the Himalayas, it’s the Yeti. In Canada, it’s the Sasquatch. And in the northwest United States, it’s Bigfoot. Bigfoot is described by believers as being between six and eight feet tall with a large forehead and pronounced brow, like a cave man’s, and a rounded, crested head like a gorilla’s. He is covered in brown or red hair and has enormous feet that are his namesake, with the biggest estimation at a whopping two feet long by eight inches wide. Some “witnesses” claim that the five-toed Bigfoot prints they saw on the ground were accompanied by claw marks (not unlike a five-toed, clawed paw print of a bear—but rational explanations aren’t as fun).

Stories of a “wild man” existed among the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest long before white colonists moved in. Versions of Bigfoot ranged from harmless giants who stole fish from fishermen’s nets, to cannibalistic monsters living on mountain peaks. These stories varied from tribe to tribe, and even from family to family, which meant that Bigfoot had a lot of different names. In the 1920s, J.W. Burns compiled the local legends for a series for a Canadian newspaper, coining the term “Sasquatch” in the process.

Read on... 
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FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES

In an article for the first edition of Cryptozoology Bernard Heuvelmans wrote that cryptozoology is the study of 'unexpected animals' and following on from that perfectly reasonable assertion, it seems to us that whereas the study of out of place birds may not have the glamour of the hunt for bigfoot or lake monsters, it is still a perfectly valid area for the Fortean zoologist to be interested in. So after about six months of regular postings on the main bloggo Corinna took the plunge and started a 'Watcher of the Skies' blog of her own as part of the CFZ Bloggo Network.
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THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN MAKES DECISIONS

We now have two kittens. The kittens are not sure what to make of Prudence. When they see her on her feet, they hiss and spit and arch their backs. However when Prudence lies on her back in bed, all they could see was a row of nipples, and being babies they soon latched on (despite the fact that Pru has no milk to give). They spent the whole night cuddled up together, but when they came downstairs this morning, the hissing and spitting resumed. Prudence, however, vacillates between being maternal and being scared of them.
 
I have been worrying all weekend about Prudence's operation. It is our busiest time of the year and there are people in and out of the house all the time. We are also going to be away for an unavoidable family occasion in a few weeks. All in all it will be impossible to keep Prudence still, unexcited, and unable to climb the stairs or the furniture until after the summer. At the moment she does not seem to be in any distress, and we have regretfully decided to see if we can postpone her surgery until the autumn when the house will be quieter, there will be no children playing in the street outside, and generally we will have a fighting chance of managing to keep her rested to the degree necessary of allowing her post operative recovery.

Animals, huh?
 
 
Another visit to our old friend Thom the World Poet
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/06/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_3.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...

*  The Gonzo Daily is - as the name implies - a daily online magazine (mostly) about artists connected to the Gonzo Multimedia group of companies. But it also has other stuff as and when the editor feels like it. The same team also do a weekly newsletter called - imaginatively - The Gonzo Weekly. Find out about it at this link: http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit-to-print.html
 
* We should probably mention here, that some of our posts are links to things we have found on the internet that we think are of interest. We are not responsible for spelling or factual errors in other people's websites. Honest guv!

*  Jon Downes, the Editor of all these ventures (and several others) is an old hippy of 53 who - together with his orange cat (who is currently on sick leave in Staffordshire) and two very small kittens (one of whom is also orange) puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon which he shares with various fish, and sometimes a small Indian frog. He is ably assisted by his lovely wife Corinna, his bulldog/boxer Prudence, his elderly mother-in-law, and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we mention the orange cat?
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DALE DRINNON: More Russian water monsters, Benny's blogs

New at the Frontiers of Zoology:
New at Benny's other blog, the Ominous Octopus Omnibus:
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HIT PARADE FOR MAY (CFZ PRESS/FORTEAN WORDS)

UK

1. The Great Yokai Encyclopaedia by Richard Freeman (4)
1=. Haunted Skies Volume One by John Hanson and Dawn Holloway (5)

3. Haunted Skies Volume Two by John Hanson and Dawn Holloway (9)
4=. Haunted Skies Volume Three by John Hanson and Dawn Holloway (-)
4=. Haunted Skies Volume Five by John Hanson and Dawn Holloway (3)
4=. When Bigfoot Attacks by Michael Newton (-)
4=. Man Monkey by Nick Redfern (-)
8=. Grave Concerns by Kai Roberts (-)
8=. Hyakumonogatari by Richard Freeman (-)
9=. Green Unpleasant Land by Richard Freeman (-)

US

1. The Great Yokai Encyclopaedia by Richard Freeman (5)
2=. When Bigfoot Attacks by Michael Newton (2)

2=. The Inhumanoids by Bart Nunnelly (6)


2=. The Journal of Cryptozoology Volume One edited by Karl Shuker (4)

5=. Orang Pendek by Richard Freeman (-)
5=. Those Amazing Newfoundland dogs by Jan Bondeson (-)
5=. Cats of Magic, Mythology and Mystery by Karl Shuker (-)
5=. Haunted Skies Volume One by John Hanson and Dawn Holloway (-)
5=. Wildman by Nick Redfern (-)

10. The 2013 CFZ Yearbook (1)



Last month's positions in this pinky colour, which I think is called cerise. Sales are quiet as they always are in the summer,  but I would liketo say thank you for all the hard work Emsy has put in on the Facebook Group. Thank you honey.
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OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today


On this day in 2009 the actor David Carradine died in a sordid manner. Carradine is most famous for playing “Bill” in Quentin Tarantino's two part revenge movie “Kill Bill”.
And now the news:
  • Activists 'won’t blame’ anyone who harasses badger...
  • Ape-like feet 'found in study of museum visitors'
  • BOOK REVIEW: Zombie Birds, Astronaut Fish and Othe...
  • Japan to reject international shark trade regulati...
  • Turtle conservationist shot dead 'by poachers' on ...
  • Brian May leads thousands in march against badger ...
  • Rare Asiatic Golden Cats are World-First Test Tube...
  • Wild lynx to be brought back to British countrysid...
  • Russian scientists make rare find of 'blood' in ma...
  • Justin Bieber's abandoned monkey moves to German w...

    • Tell us a story, Bill:
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