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, October 24, 2019

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.



CRYPTOLINK: Oregon Cattle mutilation

A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting (sometimes for the wrong reasons), usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me. 
https://www.npr.org/2019/10/08/767283820/not-one-drop-of-blood-cattle-mysteriously-mutilated-in-oregon

In the early morning light, dust from hooves creates a fog at Silvies Valley Ranch in remote eastern Oregon. Cowboys whistle and talk low to their eager herding dogs. They're moving the cattle from one vast, sage-studded range to another.

Five young purebred bulls mysteriously showed up dead on the ranch this past summer, drained of blood and with body parts precisely removed. The ranch's vice president, Colby Marshall, drives his truck down a U.S. Forest Service road. "Then we'll get out and take a little walk to where one of the bulls was found. And the carcass is still there," Marshall says.

Coming upon one of the dead bulls is an eerie scene. The forest is hot and still, apart from a raven's repeating caw. The bull looks like a giant, deflated plush toy. It smells. Weirdly, there are no signs of buzzards, coyotes or other scavengers. His red coat is as shiny as if he were going to the fair, but he's bloodless and his tongue and genitals have been surgically cut out.

Marshall says these young livestock were just reaching their top value as breeding bulls. The animals are worth around $6,000 each. And since these were breeding bulls, hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of future calves were lost too.

Finding these young Herefords in this remote country can sometimes take the ranch's experienced cowboys days. Ranch staff members are now required to ride in pairs and are encouraged to carry arms.

THYLACINES IN THE NEWS



Newly released reports from the Australian government show there have been eight reported sightings of the Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, over the ...

THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN KEE[S ON KEEPING ON

The Gonzo Daily: Thursday
Carl has gone home and we miss him terribly. Corinna managed to eat reasonably well yesterday, and today is her first day up since the end of last week. I am making sure that she has as much rest as she can. There will be a magazine this week and an episode of OTT next Thursday, but I am making no promises about any of the other scheduled things, but I am fairly confident that things will work out OK. However, knowing the way that the universe works out on occasions, I would not be surprised if I am at the receiving end of a bunch of curve balls.
Your Prayers, thoughts and positive vibes are truly appreciated.
ER EDITOR SEZ: THE DIGITAL PRAYER FLAG
You guys have been doing massive amounts of praying for Corinna. I believe that the outpouring of good vibes transmitted electronically, being a little like a Tibetan prayer flag. Find out more:
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/p/a-prayer-flag-lung-…
CHECK OUT THE GONZO STORES:
AND OTHER STUFF FEATURING VARIOUS GONZO CONTRIBUTORS:
Our webTV show:
https://www.facebook.com/OnTheTrack/posts/632561497117057
And if you fancy supporting it on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/CFZ
And by the way chaps and chappesses, a trip to the Jon Downes megastore may seem to be in order:
https://gonzotesting.blogspot.com/…/a-notion-of-shopkeepers…
Meanwhile I continue to pretend that I am a popstar, because now I have sold eight whole copies of my new album Coldharbour. If I continue at this rate I will get a silver disc sometime at the beginning of the next millenium. Coldharbour, by the way, can be found here: https://jondownes1.bandcamp.com/releases
I think it is really rather good, but then again I would say that wouldn't I?
AND THE LATEST ISSUE OF THE GONZO MAGAZINE:
Gonzo Weekly #359/60
THE CRIMSON ISSUE
http://www.gonzoweekly.com/
Richard says goodbye to the legendary Steve Hunter, Mad Iccy meets Kris Needs, Doug goes to see Oingo Boingo and The Tubes, Bart photographs Jon Anderson, John goes to San Francisco and he may or may not have had flowers in his hair, Alan has an addendum to OZORA, Jon listens to the newly refurbished Abbey Road, and mourns Steve Marriott, David goes to the Braddock Free Store, and Tony visits Downton Abbey.
Now THAT's what I call eclectic!
Hail Eris!
And there are radio shows from Mack Maloney and Friday Night Progressive AND Strange Fruit AND Merrell Fankhauser, there is a column from Kev Rowland but Mr Biffo, C J Stone, and Roy Weard, Neil Nixon and the irrepressible Corinna are on hiatus. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and antichinuses who have lost their shoes (OK, nothing to do with tiny marsupials who are searching for their footwear, 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:
The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Keanu Reeves Paul Abdul, Genesis Revisited Band & Orchestra, Steve Hackett, Diana Ross, David Stash, The Free Store, Bart Lancia, Jon Anderson, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, The Merrell Fankhauser Show, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Gianni Lenoci, Jessye Norman, Michael James Ryan, Desmond "Dessie" O'Halloran, James Bromley Spicer, Karel Gott, Beverly "Guitar" Watkins, Bat McGrath, Omeofa "Mad Melon" Oghene, Richard Brunelle, Jim DeSalvo, Kimberley Dianne Shattuck, Brian Masters, Lawrence "Larry" E Junstrom, Glenmore Lloyd Brown, Ed Ackerson, Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker, Rick Wakeman, Gerry Beckley, The Waterson Family, The Fall, Richard Wright and Dave Harris-Zee, Chasing the Monsoon, Mad Iccy, Kris Needs, Doug Harr, Oingo Boingo, Pittsburgh Aviation Animal Rescue Team (PAART), O.Z.O.R.A. Festival, Alan Dearling, Richard Foreman, Robert Hunter, John Brodie-Good, Marty Balin, Ace of Cups, Jack Traylor, Jefferson Starship, Big Brother & The Holding Company, The Doobie Brothers, Kev Rowland, Greenrose Faire, Odin's Court, Twelfth Night, Tony Klinger, Downton Abbey, Jonathan Downes, The Wild Colonial Boy, Martin Springett, Steve Marriott
And the last few issues are:
Issue 359-60 (Robert Hunter)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-359-60.html
Issue 357-8 (King Crimson)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-357-8.html
Issue 355-6 (Elfin Bow)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-355-6.html
Issue 353-4 (Melanie S Jane)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-353-4.html
Issue 351-2 (Royal Affair)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CE…/gonzo-351-2-fvxuatzgf.html
Issue 349-50 (Experimental Sonic Machines)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-349-50.htm
Issue 347-8 (Gary Duncan)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-347-8.html
Issue 345-6 (RDF)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-345-6.html
Issue 343-4 (Auburn)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-343-4.html
Issue 341-42 (America)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-341-2.html
Issue 339-40 (Kev Rowland)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-339-40.html
Issue 337-38 (Zee)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-337-8.html
Issue 335-36 (Raz)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-335-6.html
Issue 333-34 (Nepal)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-333-4.html
Issue 331-32 (Scott Walker)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-331-2.html
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:
http://www.gonzoweekly.com/pdf/
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 60 who - together with a Jack Russell called Archie, an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa, three other cats, 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 elderly mother-in-law, and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we mention Archie and the Cats?

BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF




If you are a believer in Bigfoot, Sasquatch, or Yeti, then you need to make your way to Bays Mountain Park October 25th thru the 27th for the ...
Hundreds of Bigfoot Enthusiasts Hit Texas
This year's conference, hosted in the “official Bigfoot capital of Texas”, welcomed several notable guest speakers including Cliff Barackman and James ...
Bigfoot Howl Recorded Deep in a Canadian Forest
A man hunting with his family in Canada records what they believe was the howl of a Bigfoot.


A family have claimed to have captured a Bigfoot's voice echoing through the Canadian woodlands in a haunting video. The mythical bigfoot ...

LAKE AND SEA MONSTER NEWS

The hunt for Lake and Sea Monsters is probably the most iconic branch of Cryptozoology. Following our successful Mystery Cat and BHM Study Groups, we feel that these sightings should also be archived and published in a regular round-up of the stories as they come in. Curated by Sally Watts and Richard Muirhead.





  • CECIL THE SERPENT
  • NESSIE SCULPTURE
  • LOCH NESS EN PASSANT


  • MORE BLOATED DEAD THINGS
  • NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Thursday

    ON THIS DAY IN -  1632 - Scientist Anthony van Leeuwenhoek was born in Delft, Holland. He created the first microscope lenses that were powerful enough to observe single-celled animals.
    And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • Ancient relative of the blue-tongued skink found i...
  • Invasive species are Australia's number-one extinc...
  • How whales defy the cancer odds: Good genes
  • Catapulting spider winds up web to launch itself a...
  • Crowdfunding brings life-saving water to Myanmar's...
  • UN environment warning: 10 key points and what Aus...


  • 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)