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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Tuesday, December 28, 2010

ARCHIVING PROJECT: General Forteana Part 35

As you know, Oll has been working on the archiving project since early February 2009 and he is now working on a general mish-mash of a section known as `General Forteana`.

This 34th collection once again really is a collection of completely uncategoriseable stuff, including an explosion in a public lavatory, an alien in Yorkshire, ghosts, UFOs, near death experiences, cold fusion, the lobster bopy murder, and lots more. It doesn't get much better than this. Good stuff.
HERE

A FEW PARISH NOTICES... (Mostly flu-related)

I would like to thank Oll for not just doing YNT each day but posting news stories on the day that he realised that both Corinna and I were hors de combat. Thanks, mate; I really appreciate it.

I have also had a telephone call from Richard Muirhead who wants to apologise that the second half of his article on Chinese knowledge of the giraffe has been postponed. Why? You've guessed it: flu. He has contracted this bloody disease as well and at time of writing (yesterday, by the time you read this) he is tucked up in bed at his mum's house.

Meanwhile Dave McMann who has also got the flu and is suffering horribly, suggested to the fortean email list that all the fortean flu sufferers should come down to Devon, so we could all die together in a Heaven's Gate sort of way. No way!! There's only enough cake and ginger beer left for me!

I might countenance the idea if I have promises of cake!

BAT BOMBS OF WW2

Once again the magnificent Beachcombing blog never ceases to amaze. If you are reading this Naomi, then I would suggest that you don't.

http://beachcombing.wordpress.com/2010/11/28/bats-fight-japan/

HAWKWIND DONE BY A BARBERSHOP QUARTET

You will remember that before Christmas we celebrated Graham's absence from the roost on his annual trip to see his favourite rock band by playing various versions of their most popular song. A week or so after his return, still riddled with swine flu, the subject has come up again. Over on his blog Graham posts a video from Channel 5 of a barbershop quartet playing tribute to the band...


http://grahaminglis.blogspot.com/2010/12/hawkwind-tribute-on-uk-daytime-tv.html

This really is peculiar and should be seen.

A HEARTWARMING STORY

Michigan Dog Saves Kitten’s Life in Christmas Miracle

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/
On this day in 1170 Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was killed by four knights in Canterbury Cathedral after a disagreement with King Henry II. Through an early example of P.R. and spin-doctoring, Henry was forgiven and exonerated for his part in Becket’s bloody murder and Becket’s shrine became the most popular site of pilgrimage in England, and Becket was canonised.
And now, the news:

Petition to Save the Grass Snake (Constantinos Io...
Tadpoles Croak Like Adults
Denver Zoo Team Creates Insurance Population to Sa...
Sonoran Desert Tortoise Gets Protected Status
Gators Thriving Along Georgia's coast
HS2 plan 'will destroy Warwickshire wildlife'
Cypriot bird trappers flock to British military ba...
Hairless animal 'could be chupacabra' (via Rebecc...
Robins in Scotland battle for survival

A very tame robin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqmgfpDlXBM&NR=1

Monday, December 27, 2010

NEIL ARNOLD: A Battle With A Sea Serpent In Kent & Sussex

The counties of Kent and (particularly) Sussex have many folkloric legends of great dragon-like monsters said to inhabit the ancient woodlands and forests. Sceptics often discount such beasts as superstition and instead blame possible encounters with adders or escaped reptiles. However, the following accounts suggest that something far bigger than your average snake once lurked in the foamy waters off the coastline of Kent and Sussex.

From Bygone Kent magazine, Vol 6, No. 9, 1985, featured in an article named ‘Submarines, A Ghost And A Sea Monster’ by W.H. Lapthorne, ‘Each year during the silly season the media revel in fresh sightings of Nessie, the legendary Loch Ness Monster. Yet the sea monster encountered off the North Foreland in 1917 was far from legendary and more than just a product of a “wee dram”. In July 1917 the ‘Paramount’, an armed drifter from Ramsgate attached to the famed Dover Patrol, was cruising a mile from the Long Nose Spit, between the North Foreland and Margate. Suddenly the sharp eyes of the look-out sighted a large snake-like creature rearing out of the sea ahead of them “hard on the port bow”, a creature which the startled man later described as being “like some gigantic conger eel about fifty-feet in length, with a long scaly body, a large spiny dorsal fin and dark olive green in colour”. At the approach of the oncoming vessel the creature inquisitively raised its head, as the craft steamed past at a steady eight knots. At a distance of 300 yards the skipper gave the order to open fire on the curious but seemingly inoffensive beast. Six shells were fired, the last of which struck the creature in the dorsal fin. After thrashing violently on the surface for a few seconds it sank from sight in a welter of blood. Years later in 1957 a sequel to this narrative came some miles down Channel at Seaford in Sussex, when local fishermen reported having their nets ripped to pieces by a strange sea serpent some fifty-feet in length, with a long scaly body bearing traces of a deep seven-foot scar. The same thing happened again in 1968, when the incident was reported in a national daily and described as the Martello Monster, as it took place off Martello Tower No. 74 at Seaford, but this time the assailant remained unseen below the surface.’