ENCOUNTERS WITH A FAMOUS RHINOCEROS

Over on the Fortean Times site, our old mate Jan Bondeson writes:

In 1998, after attending a meeting at a London hospital, I went to have a look at a street market nearby. In a stall for old newspapers and magazines, I was surprised to see two old prints of rhinoceroses, one of which had a curious inscription dated 1752. I had no particular interest in these animals, but the magpie tendency asserted itself; confident that these prints would come in handy one day, I purchased them for £10....

Read on..

ALAN FRISWELL: THE CFZ - THE LAST FORTEAN PUBLISHING HOUSE?

The FT UnCon always promises to be a weekend of unusual events, and so it was. Over the two-day period, I finally met Rebecca Lang, amused a small child with the deft and dextrous use of a hot dog and a pigeon, fed a homeless person, drank a reasonably substantial quantity of alcohol and saw a ghost--as you do.

The various stalls and tables were of special interest, returning me to those wonderful days of childhood when I would haunt the bookshelves of W.H. Smith, which in those informative times were stacked with titles describing every sort of paranormal and Fortean phenomena, many of which found their way home with me, or at least as many as I could twist the arm of my mum and dad to buy for me.

Sadly--'tragically' is more like it--the popularisation and public accessibility to this material seems to have diminished somewhat in the latter years, whether due to lack of interest or publishers losing faith in a field that perhaps appears to be increasingly esoteric.

Now maybe I’m biased--I probably am--but the CFZ, through their independent publishing of Fortean material, is quite possibly the last outlet--or one of the very few--for this kind of literature.

There have been accusations from some quarters that the CFZ are guilty of ‘vanity publishing.’ Oh yeah--well what the hell is that? If it means the publication of a work without consultation or recourse to an established publisher, then personally, I think that’s a good thing, especially in the current climate.

I’m sure we all know the story of how Harry Potter was turned down by fifteen publishing houses before someone finally saw the light. So what chance for black dogs, albino eels, out-of-place pine-martens and Wells catfish? Not much, I would think, in a ‘reading’ environment that seems to actively promote illiteracy among the young and impressionable, through the deification of half-baked ‘celebrities’ who, seemingly unable to write for themselves, have their vacuous and tedious ‘autobiographies’ ghost-written by some anonymous scribe; and the downright obscene proliferation of drivel like OK magazine, that now occupy the very shelves where once were the Fortean books of my youth.

I’ve put up some of the titles that meant so much to me a kid, and it would be nice if the CFZ publications became just as special to some youngster today. And why not?

So well done to Jon and the CFZ team for keeping the diversity and interest of true Fortean publications alive.

DAN HOLDSWORTH: Not really cryptozoological, not quite anyway

Jon,


here's a link to some recent research on, of all things, the Black Death plagues of medieval Europe:

http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.ppat.1001134

The article was linked off this one:


http://www.physorg.com/news206009200.html



which was linked into by Fortean Times.

The slight cryptozoological link was this: in the past quite a few epidemiologists have claimed (with not very much supporting evidence) that the only reservoir host for the plague bacterium Yersina pestis was the black rat, Rattus rattus, which is a mostly sub-tropical species and is somewhat beyond its northern breeding range in Britain. R. rattus in medieval times acted like it does now, as an imported pest in ports that couldn't quite cope with the climate here and only existed in ports from the population being continually topped up from shipping.

The way the disease was thought to spread was by infected rats transmitting the bacterium to their fleas. Once the rats died the now-starving fleas went looking for anything to bite, some bit people and thus passed on the disease. The problem with this model is that where rat-flea-human transmission goes on, you always see highly obvious mass deaths of rat populations before plague outbreaks; this was never commented on by medieval writers.

The logic goes that because R. rattus wasn't generally present in Britain there would be no reservoir host for Yersina pestis in Britain; therefore it couldn't be the cause of plague; therefore we would have to look for another causitive agent. The favourite for this was an entirely inferred cryptid, an unknown haemorrhagic virus. This is seriously scary because viruses are very difficult to kill; one with a symptomless incubation period of weeks is incredibly scary.

This research, then, is actually very reassuring news: we lose a seriously scary cryptid disease and replace it with a known bacterium that can be treated. We also learn something because that research shows that one strain of Y. pestis spread up to Norway, then down south again. There's no way it could have been ticking over in black rats up there, so there must be another reservoir host (domestic cats, possibly; they are easily infected and cat fleas readily bite people as well) or the disease there acted more slowly and simply spread from person to person.

This won't happen again, if only because people now have access to high quality insecticides and don't tolerate flea infestations, so the transmission chain gets broken. I'm not sure that this qualifies as cryptozoology, but it does qualify as gold-standard debunking of a scare story, replacing a scary myth with something that's still nasty but eminently treatable.

Dan Holdsworth.

RICHARD FREEMAN: Could this be a Master Otter sighting?

I have just found this story on the Fortean Times message board. It sounds to me very much like a Master Otter sighting. What do you think?


http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41245

RICHARD MUIRHEAD: MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: MYSTERY WILD CATS, BOTH IRISH AND SCOTTISH

In August 2008 Fortean Times published an article by Gary Cunningham on the subject of the elusive Irish Wild Cat and by this I do not mean escaped pumas or lynxes, but a bona fide Irish Wild Cat. So today, with a little extra money than usual, I paid 10 euros for a 24 hour session on the Irish Newspaper Archive in a step of faith, hoping I would find some references within the many Irish newspapers dating from the 18th century that are archived. I started my search at about 2.30pm today Monday and ended about 10 minutes ago at 8.05 pm and I have made some quite exciting discoveries covering Irish and Scottish wildcats, and Irish snakes, which I will mention here for the first time. (The cats, I mean; not the snakes. The latter are being passed on to Irish cryptozoologist, Ronan Coghlan. There is an interesting comment in the Irish paper The Nation's May 22nd 1897 edition: 'Contrary to the popular belief, there are some snakes in Ireland, but they are very rare.' 1)

Just go into Google, type in Irish Newspaper Archive and follow the instructions.

Freemans Journal August 24th 1838

'Mr Cahitl (? Hard to read) of Whiskey-hail, county Limerick, shot, on Thursday last, at Cragg-wood, three wild cats of monstrous size. These strange animals attacked the wood ranger a few days ago, who narrowly escaped with his life. So disfigured were his features, and so completely exhausted was he, that his family did not for a considerable time recognise him on being brought home. Mr Cahitl has taken the skins to send to the Royal Cork Institute.' (2)

I wonder what happened to the Royal Cork Institute?

Southern Star February 11th 1893

'This extract was a summary of a lecture on Irish natural history by the Rev. H Burton Deane at Clonakilty in Co. Cork. In it he says : "Rosscarberry is a capital place for otters, foxes, stoats, weasels, wild cat, and others of the furry tribe.”' (3)

Rosscarberry is in Co. Cork

So here we have wild cats being mentioned in the same breath as well known native Irish mammals.

Southern Star July 19th 1902

[Here we have an interesting coroboration with Cunningham`s reports from Fortean Times. Cunningham uncovered accounts from Ireland of wild cats with nail-like projections from their tails. For example near Kenry in Limerick (4) and one from Co. Mayo c. 1940-1950 (5)]

But the Southern Star report:

'Here is a wonderful examplificatin of the queer effects which sunstroke has on some timorous minded people:- “Dear Sir,permit me,through the medium of your Macroom Notes to put before the public of Macroon and district a danger which menaces thousands of human lives. There is at present in Coolcower wood a wild cat of the most bloodthirsty description which I saw with my own two eyes on Thursday evening last. This may sound like a hoax, but I pledge you my honour I am perfectly in earnest. I knew the animal as soon as I caught a glimpse of him, crouching as I believed, for a spring upon me. It was at least four feet long with great glaring eyes and a bushy tail about two foot in length with a nail in the end of it. I did not wait for further observations at the time but I can assure you it was a wild cat” Yours truly Pro Bono Publico.' (6)

There then follow a series of facetious comments by the editor, presumably. So here we have the 2nd reference to a Co. Cork wild cat.

The final report for today is from the Irish Independent of October 17th 1907, which has a head line – CAT NEARLY 5FT LONG 'A wild cat measuring 4ft 7in has been shot by Mr S A Bland a noted Arizona sportsman.' (7)It does not say whether or not it was shot in Ireland or England.

There is an item in the Irish Independent of May 21st 1906 on a wild cat being brought from the Cocos Island. I don`t know if this is significant.

The Scottish wild cat. This is from the Anglo-Celt of January 10th 1856. It is interesting because of its colouration:

'CAPTURE OF A WILD CAT. - On Friday week, a man caught, in a wood on Kirkennan-hill,parish of Buittle, a fine live specimen of that nearly extinct class of the savage creatures of Scotland - a wild cat. It had been driven by hunger and the inclemency of the weather from its native retreats into a baited trap. It is of a bluish gray colour, stands high, and measures three feet in length, from the nose to the tip of its tail. – Scotchmen.' (8)

Is this a normal colour for a Scottish wild cat? Seems a bit like a Kellas cat.

I have got up to about 1913 with the wild cat search and will try and bring more to you on Thursday Jan. 21st

1 Nation. May 22nd 1897
2 Freemans Journal August 24th 1838
3 Southern Star February 11th 1893
4 G.Cunningham. The Irish Wildcat Fortean Times August 2008 p.41
5 Ibid p.42
6 Southern Star July 19th 1902
7 Irish Independent October 17th 1907
8 Anglo-Celt January 10th 1856


Now Music time! Simple Minds-Sanctify Yourself

Is this the age of the thunder and rage
Can you feel the ground move `round your feet
If you take one step closer,it`ll lead to another
The crossroad above is where we meet
I shout out for shelter, I need you for something
The whole world is out,there all on the street
Control yourself,love is all you need
Control yourself,in your eyes
Sanctify yourself,sanctify
Be apart of me,sanctify
Sanctify yourself, sanctify
Sanctify yourself, set yourself free

MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: GIANT DRAGONFLIES

Hello. Today I feature a brief correspondence that appeared on the Fortean Times cryptozoology forum between myself and some others in June and July 2008 on the topic of giant dragonflies. In those days I called myself Dickydoubt_7. I now am known as Dickydevo. I have left the spelling as in the original.

Posted June 25th 2008: 'Hello! I wonder if anyone can help? I have obtained 2 reports of giant dragonflies from the United Kingdom, [one of these was from Oll Lewis; I believe Oll said it was in Wales, if my memory serves me correctly. See post by LividBullseye, below] from friends who I consider to be trustworthy. If anyone has any reports from their localities, please can they let me know on this Forum? Thank you. If I receive enough reports I will write a piece for Fortean Times.' [I never did]

gncxx: How big is giant? Like prehistoric, two-foot wingspan giant?
LividBullseye: Ask Oll Lewis he`s seen one. Find him here or on the CFZ.
nyarlathotepsub 2: I`ve seen these http://glzmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/wowwee-dragonfly-on-sale-now-for-49-235178.php
disgruntledgoth: about the biggest I have seen had a 6 inch wing span
Dickydoubt_7: I should have said that the dragonfly seen in Oxford measured 12 inches from the tip of one wing to the other.
Peripart: I`m genuinely not being facetious or otherwise dismissive, but it wasn`t one of those radiocontrolled toy dragonflies, was it?Some of them are very lifelike (apart from their huge size) Waylander28 12 inches, that is big..

I had a dried carcass of a dragonfly, found on the sands of the lakes Blessington, (Pulaphuca Lakes to be exact) in Wicklow in Ireland. It was larger than my hand at the time, if I can remember it must have been at least 4 and a half to 5 inches long, with a similar wingspan.

I came across it just lying on the sand behind a rock, myself and my friend would not go near it until we were sure it was dead, (we threw a few stones gently around it) it was perfectly poised, full stretch, and wings splayed out to the sides. Long since been reduced to dust now! Shame it was a Rare perfect find.

R2800 In the UK? I doubt they could really get that Big honestly. What insects need to become monsters is mostly swamplike humid environments with lots of vegitation and shelter. That way there is no winter to kill them off or hinder their growth,plus the air in swamps seem to have higher Carbon content in the air itself...which seems to produce some pretty big bugs.

300 million years ago there we`re 6 foot wingspan Dragon flies and 6 foot centipedes. And if the world was still as warm as it was back then, they`d still be around.

R2800 wrote: In the UK? I doubt they could really get that Big honestly.

Waylander 28: No it was not in the UK, it was in Ireland. Regardless, they were that big, so much so that from a distance and watching them flying over head, we had mistaken them for sparrows. The body of the Dragonfly that I found was at least half 15mm at its thickest. (1)

1. Fortean Times website discussion.Giant dragonflies.June 25th 2008 to July 29th 2008.

The Cure Lullaby

I spy something beginning with s....

On candystripe legs the spiderman comes
softly through the shadow of the evening sun
stealing past the windows of the blissfully dead
looking for the victim shivering in bed
searching out fear in the gathering gloom and
suddenly!
a movement in the corner of the room!
and there is nothing I can do
when I realize with fright
that the spiderman is having me for dinner tonight!

MIKE DASH AT UNCON 2008...

Jon at Uncon...

Last November we went to the Fortean Times Unconvention where much fun was had by all. We videoed several of the talks with the permission of both the FT posse and the speakers, and then because we were overtaken by events we completely forgot to post them up.

So here is the first one, and being an egotistical so and so, it is me, shamelessly plugging my new book, Island of paradise which you can buy HERE