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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Thursday, May 31, 2018

MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: Some mid 20th Century cryptids from Minnesota

A friend from Minnesota (Greg Brick) sent me a  few pages quite recently from a magazine  whose title wasn`t included, however the story was ` Wildlife fables` by Philip D.Jordan then (1950) a professor of History at the University of Minnesota. I include here the most interesting parts of the essay

" Story-telling flourishes best when pine-knots blaze and when, after lines are dried and guns cleaned, weary men of the out-of-doors relax. Then the tall tale, America`s own unique contribution to world yarning, reaches out from the imagination to tell of fabulous folk heroes...Old timers tell also of strange animals that once roamed Minnesota`s north country and now are scarce and rare because the state has given them no protection...Plum Nelly today knows more about the Swamp Auger,Snow Snake,Agropelter and Hodag than any living naturalist.his long life in the woods has brought him into close contact with the Hidebehind and the Tote-Road Shagamaw.  He is not concerned with any conservation program for the Gamehog...

"A distressingly ugly animal , the Hodag,as described by old-timers...has a knobby head from which two prominent eyes bulge. Two heavy lateral horns, like those of a male stag-beetle, make him a fierce foe. The claws are stout and powerful, and the saw-toothed tail terminates in a hook. A row of dorsal spines runs from tip of nose to end of tail...A group of Kabekona county sportsmen, including local Isaac Walton League,made definite plans during the winter of 1949 to preserve Minnesota`s few remaining Snow Snakes. According to all accounts, the Snow Snake ( Aestateesommus hiemepericulosus) first was recognized during the year of Two Winters, when temperatures in August dropped to 71 degrees below zero...Pure white in color, the Snow Snake blends so harmoniously against its white background that no one has distinguished its shape or size.

The author then mentions the Agropelter (Brachiipotentes craniofractans),or "forest monkey", tame enough to be carried in a shirt pocket and able to darn socks."Needleeye, an Agropelter from Stillwater, took a blue ribbon at the state fair in 1861 for the best bit of embroidery - a covering for the deacon`s seat.Agropelters were then described as being so sort after that they were trapped and sent to work in spinning mills in the southern U..S.A. They became unpopular as they were trained by Minnesotans to become violent to prevent their enslavement in the southern mills.

A curious bit of folklore is attributed to a mystery snipe, in that when it becomes excited it emits sparks. "Competent naturalists for years have insisted that the great Hinckley fire of 1894 was started with such sparks... Like the Snipe, the Filla-Ma-Loo bird (Fulica stultusregrediens) ,never has been caught, but its numbers are increasing in Minnesota...Known variously as the Flu-fly Bird and the Goofus bird, the Filla-Ma-Loo has a Turkey-like head on a long bottle-green neck that is spangled with large,silvery scales. A black right wing and a pink left one makes a color combination hard to miss...All Filla-Ma-Loos are male." 

THIS MAKES ME SEEM MUCH MORE SOLEMN THAN I REMEMBER BEING


Jonathan Downes of the Centre for Fortean Zoology may agree with that. ... It covers a wide range of subjects, from zoology to folklore, and from ...

BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF



Bigfoot Sightings Are Still A Thing And This Woman Has The Evidence To Prove It All
Rural Michigan is leading the pack in Bigfoot news, apparently.


THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN MAYBE GOING OUT

The Gonzo Daily: Friday/Saturday
 
Yes the Friday blogs ARE indeed early. Tomorrow evening Graham and I are going to do our best to go and see Luul presenting Nico: In the Shadow of the Moon Goddess in Totnes,and so I am clearing my decks as much as possible. Wish us luck...
 
And for those of you who are interested in such things, the Gonzo Privacy Policy is here:
 
 
And the CFZ Privacy Policy is here:
 
 
Forgive me for always banging on about our webTV show, but it matters a lot to me, and I would be grateful for as many people as possible to see it, and spread the tidings of it far and wide:
 
 
And if you fancy supporting us on Patreon:
 
And by the way chaps and chappesses, a trip to the Jon Downes megastore seems to be in order: if you want to make me a happy fellow, you can:
 
buy my novel:
buy the record by the main protagonist of the novel who isn't me in an elephant mask, honest:
buy my single:
 
But for now, here is the news:
 
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
YES NEWS
COMING THIS WEEKEND
LUTZ IN TOTNES
THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Hawkwind - Silver Mach...
 
 
Gonzo Weekly #287
THE TARNATION ISSUE
 
I first heard the music of our cover songstrel fifteen years ago, whilst driving through Nevada's Valley of Fire National Park more than slightly chemically and herbally altered. I have been in love with her music ever since so it's about time for our regular championing of the sublime Paula Frazer and Tarnation whose new album is utterly awesome. John goes to see Nigel Kennedy, Alan raves about the Mathis Haug Band, Jon rambles on about Ken and Daisy Campbell and the Pagan Love Cult, while Roy goes on tour with Sniff n' the Tears
 
 
#Hail Eris!
 
And there are radio shows from Strange Fruit, AND Mack Maloney, AND Friday Night Progressive, there are columns from all sorts of folk including Neil Nixon, and Roy Weard, and C J Stone, and Mr Biffo and Kev Rowlands AND the irrepressible Corinna . There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and tiger quolls who are havinga little snooze (OK, nothing to do with small dasyurids who are a little sleepy, but I got carried away with things that rhymed with OOOOS) than you can shake a stick at. And the best part is IT's ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!
 
This issue features:
 
Pagan Love Cult, Merrell Fankhauser, Cavern Club, Beatles, Morrissey, Dave Grohl, Michael Eavis, Rolling Stones, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, William Gold, Robert Indiana, Reginald Grant Lucas, Philip Milton Roth, Norman Eugene "Clint" Walker, Mike & the Mechanics, Ashton, Gardner, Dyke & Co., Michael Bruce, Man, Karnataka, Doug Harr, Paula Frazer, Alan Dearling, Mathis Haug Band, One Root Music, Griot Blues, John Brodie-Good, Nigel Kennedy, Kev Rowland, Kaze, Infinitwav, Labyrinth, Lione-Conti, Lord of Pagathorn,  Magenta, Megalophobe, Mr Biffo, Roy Weard, Chris Stone, Jon Downes, The Wild Colonial Boy, Martin Springett, Joanna Hodgin, Nancy and Lawrence Durrell, Grateful Dead, Selena Quintanilla, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, The Ramones, John Lennon, The Fugs, Hortus gin
 
And the last few issues are:
 
Issue 288 (Paula Frazer)
Issue 287 (Boss Goodman)
Issue 286 (Monty Python)
Issue 285 (ELP)
Issue 284 (Straqngelove)
Issue 283 (Record Store Day)
Issue 282 (Neil Finn and Fleetwood Mac)
Issue 281 (Carl Palmer)
Issue 280 (Steve Andrews)
 
 
All issues from #70 can be downloaded at www.gonzoweekly.com if you prefer. If you have problems downloading, just email me and I will add you to the Gonzo Weekly dropbox. The first 69 issues are archived there as well. Information is power chaps, we have to share it!
 
You can download the magazine in pdf form HERE:
 
SPECIAL NOTICE: If you, too, want to unleash the power of your inner rock journalist, and want to join a rapidly growing band of likewise minded weirdos please email me at jon@eclipse.co.uk The more the merrier really.
 
* 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: www.gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk
 
* 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 58 who - together with a Jack Russell called Archie, an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa, and two half grown kittens, one totally coincidentally named after one of the Manson Family, purely because she squeaks, puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon which he shares with various fish. 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 Archie and the Cats?

NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Friday/Saturday

ON THIS DAY IN -  1859 - In London, Big Ben went into operation. 
And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • 25 years of fossil collecting yields clearest pict...
  • Utah Landscapers Discover Remains of Ice Age Horse...
  • Say Goodbye to the World's Oldest Spider, Dead at ...
  • Half of Western Lowland Gorillas May Vanish by 204...

  • AND TO WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK... (Music that may have some relevance to items also on this page, or may just reflect my mood on the day)

    CFZ MONTHLY NEWSLETTER #32

    Dear Friends,

    For those of you not in the know, at the beginning of each month we send out a newsletter to all members of the CFZ. The most recent (which went out a few minutes ago) included articles on OTT, more on the Common Moor carcass, adapting the grounds, a strange insect in court, a peculiar amphibian, a tapir in Texas, Patreon, a new book on vampires, Notes and Queries etc.

    The infrastructure of the Centre for Fortean Zoology has changed rapidly over the last few years and truthfully doesn’t look like its going to stop changing anytime soon.

    The newsletter costs a quid a month (or the equivalent in your currency) and is delivered straight into your inbox by a plethora of tiny invisible elves, or email if your prefer it that way. You can sign up for it here: http://tinyurl.com/jtsq7ew

    If you want to view a sample issue click here: http://tinyurl.com/pw7rw9l

    BIG CAT ROUND UP

    The hunt for British Big Cats attracts far more newspaper-column inches than any other cryptozoological subject. 

    There are so many of them now that we feel that they should be archived by us in some way, so we are publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in. 

    The worldwide mystery cat phenomenon (or group of phenomena, if we are to be more accurate) is not JUST about cryptozoology. At its most basic level it is about the relationship between our species and various species of larger cat. That is why sometimes you will read stories here that appear to have nothing to do with cryptozoology but have everything to do with human/big cat interaction. As committed Forteans, we believe that until we understand the nature of these interactions, we have no hope of understanding the truth that we are seeking.

  • NEWSLINK: More 'black panther' sightings reported ...
  • NEWSLINK, UK: Five times big cats have been seen i...
  • NEWSLINK: Tigress carcass dumped overnight in toil...
  • NEWSLINK: Satkosia Reserve To Get Tiger From MP In...
  • VIDEO: Watch a Family Decide to Explore the Cheeta...

  • PHOTOS: Bengali tigers in Rawalpindi zoo welcome t...
  • FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES


    What has Corinna's column of Fortean bird news got to do with cryptozoology? 

    Well, everything, actually! 

    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.



    THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN CONTINUES

    The Gonzo Daily: Thursday
    Yesterday was a peculiar one. I had a blood test, filmed a large chunk of OTT, interviewed Nick Redfern and bought some gin. It was too bloody hot for me yesterday, and today I have deployed the office fan for the first time in a couple of years. Regular readers will be aware that back in January, Graham, Charlotte and I took a party of games journalists and other folk involved with Capcom's release of the videogame Monster Hunter World down to Common Moor - a bleak area on the road to Shebbear in order to search for evidence of the existence of the big black cats which have been reported so often in the region. In a wonderful piece of happenstance that I wouldn't have believed if it happened to anyone else, the head of the PR company found the skeleton of a young deer with no external injuries on it, apart from the teeth marks of a medium to large sized predator.
    Excitement ensued.
    The teeth marks proved to be those of a large fox, and subsequent deployment of a trail camera got pictures of such an animal walking along the road. We thought, from various hoof marks found in soft mud, that the location where we found the skeleton was a regularly used road crossing for various animals, so we re-deployed the trail camera to see if we could confirm this. We retrieved the trail camera a few days after Graham returned from America and it does indeed include several images of roe deer, which have crossed the road in order to get there. However, there were not as many pictures of deer as we would have expected, and we will be carrying out our investigations to see if we can find out why.
    We do now, however, have a tentative hypothesis to explain the deer kill. Even the largest of foxes could not have dragged the deer very far, but Carl Marshall has suggested that a car struck the unfortunate animal a glancing blow, and that soft tissue injuries killed it. The skeleton was found only a couple of feet from the road itself, and so he hypothesised that either the dying animal crawled towards the crossing place with which it was familiar, or that the fox pulled the carcass there post-mortem but pre-predation.
    There have been a lot of 'big cat' sightings along this road over the years, and we intend to continue our explorations of Common Moor. Partly because of this, and partly because - being common land - we do not have to get a landowners permission to deploy trail cams and carry on investigations.
    Watch this space.
    And for those of you who are interested in such things, the Gonzo Privacy Policy is here:
    And the CFZ Privacy Policy is here:
    Forgive me for always banging on about our webTV show, but it matters a lot to me, and I would be grateful for as many people as possible to see it, and spread the tidings of it far and wide:
    And if you fancy supporting us on Patreon:
    And by the way chaps and chappesses, a trip to the Jon Downes megastore seems to be in order: if you want to make me a happy fellow, you can:
    buy my novel:
    buy the record by the main protagonist of the novel who isn't me in an elephant mask, honest:
    buy my single:
    But for now, here is the news:
    THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY:The Chad Mitchell Trio ...
    MOUNTAIN NEWS
    THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
    SHUTTLEWORTH NEWS
    Alice Cooper Group Guitarist, Michael Bruce Gives ...
    LUTZ IN TOTNES
    Gonzo Weekly #287
    THE TARNATION ISSUE
    I first heard the music of our cover songstrel fifteen years ago, whilst driving through Nevada's Valley of Fire National Park more than slightly chemically and herbally altered. I have been in love with her music ever since so it's about time for our regular championing of the sublime Paula Frazer and Tarnation whose new album is utterly awesome. John goes to see Nigel Kennedy, Alan raves about the Mathis Haug Band, Jon rambles on about Ken and Daisy Campbell and the Pagan Love Cult, while Roy goes on tour with Sniff n' the Tears
    #Hail Eris!
    And there are radio shows from Strange Fruit, AND Mack Maloney, AND Friday Night Progressive, there are columns from all sorts of folk including Neil Nixon, and Roy Weard, and C J Stone, and Mr Biffo and Kev Rowlands AND the irrepressible Corinna . There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and tiger quolls who are havinga little snooze (OK, nothing to do with small dasyurids who are a little sleepy, but I got carried away with things that rhymed with OOOOS) than you can shake a stick at. And the best part is IT's ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!
    This issue features:
    Pagan Love Cult, Merrell Fankhauser, Cavern Club, Beatles, Morrissey, Dave Grohl, Michael Eavis, Rolling Stones, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, William Gold, Robert Indiana, Reginald Grant Lucas, Philip Milton Roth, Norman Eugene "Clint" Walker, Mike & the Mechanics, Ashton, Gardner, Dyke & Co., Michael Bruce, Man, Karnataka, Doug Harr, Paula Frazer, Alan Dearling, Mathis Haug Band, One Root Music, Griot Blues, John Brodie-Good, Nigel Kennedy, Kev Rowland, Kaze, Infinitwav, Labyrinth, Lione-Conti, Lord of Pagathorn,  Magenta, Megalophobe, Mr Biffo, Roy Weard, Chris Stone, Jon Downes, The Wild Colonial Boy, Martin Springett, Joanna Hodgin, Nancy and Lawrence Durrell, Grateful Dead, Selena Quintanilla, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, The Ramones, John Lennon, The Fugs, Hortus gin
    And the last few issues are:
    Issue 288 (Paula Frazer)
    Issue 287 (Boss Goodman)
    Issue 286 (Monty Python)
    Issue 285 (ELP)
    Issue 284 (Straqngelove)
    Issue 283 (Record Store Day)
    Issue 282 (Neil Finn and Fleetwood Mac)
    Issue 281 (Carl Palmer)
    Issue 280 (Steve Andrews)
    All issues from #70 can be downloaded at www.gonzoweekly.com if you prefer. If you have problems downloading, just email me and I will add you to the Gonzo Weekly dropbox. The first 69 issues are archived there as well. Information is power chaps, we have to share it!
    You can download the magazine in pdf form HERE:
    SPECIAL NOTICE: If you, too, want to unleash the power of your inner rock journalist, and want to join a rapidly growing band of likewise minded weirdos please email me at jon@eclipse.co.uk The more the merrier really.
    * 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: www.gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk
    * 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 58 who - together with a Jack Russell called Archie, an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa, and two half grown kittens, one totally coincidentally named after one of the Manson Family, purely because she squeaks, puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon which he shares with various fish. 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 Archie and the Cats?

    NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Thursday

    ON THIS DAY IN -  1433 - Sigismund was crowned emperor of Rome. 
    And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • Baby Humpback Whales May Soon Fill Antarctic Seas
  • Seal avoids 'slow and painful death' by air vent f...
  • Extreme weather 'potentially catastrophic' for bat...
  • River dolphins are declining steeply in the Amazon...

  • AND TO WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK... (Music that may have some relevance to items also on this page, or may just reflect my mood on the day)