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, October 01, 2013

CRYPTOLINK: Shipley's Loch Ness Monster hunter takes to the skies

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.
Loch Ness monster expert Gordon HolmesLoch Ness monster expert Gordon Holmes
Loch Ness monster expert Gordon Holmes from Shipley has taken to the skies in his latest bid to capture footage of the legendary beast.
Mr Holmes is Britains’s most dedicated Nessie hunter and this summer sent a tiny camcorder hovering 80 foot above Loch Ness, to search for signs of water disturbances.
His home-made spy in the sky was carried aloft by 10 helium filled foil balloons, explained Mr Holmes: “Originally, I’d hoped to drag the cluster of balloons plus camera around the loch using a radio controlled boat, but the winds are so unpredictable.
“During my first launch attempt, two balloons exploded when blown onto the local sharp rocks.
“However, by the third attempt on the final day the conditions were perfect to launch.
“The spy in the sky cam produced better results than previously expected,” Mr Holmes said.
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TODAY'S 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. In September 2012 Emma Osborne decided that the Mystery Cat Study Group really deserved a blog of its own within the CFZ Blog Network.


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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 IS.......

    The Gonzo Daily - Tuesday
     
    Last year was universally described as the worst summer ever for British butterflies. This year, despite a very late and cold spring has been probably the best butterfly summer for at least ten years. We have also had the most exciting butterfly immigrants for considerably longer than that. It appears that the mainland race of the swallowtail (P. maechon. gorganus) which became extinct in the UK in the early 19th Century has bred here this year no less than three times - in Dorset, Sussex and Somerset. Those of us who daydream about such things wonder whether it could become properly established again.
     
    On top of that I have received three lots of post which threaten to distract me away from the paths of righteousness: A DVD about the UK Counterculture in the 60s, and another DVD about Duane Allman (thanks to Rob J for those two) and volume three of Roland Smiths' excellent 'Cryptid Hunters' novels, featuring a hero which he admits is based very vaguely on yours truly.
     
    Another visit to our old friend Thom the World Poet.
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/10/thom-world-poet-daily-poem.html
     
     
     
    Manchester UK's Crystal Grenade Explores The Darker Side Of Life On Debut Album 'Lo! And Behold'
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/10/manchester-uks-crystal-grenade-explores.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:     www.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 54 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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    OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today


    Yesterday’s News Today

    On this day in 1964 the Japanese Bullet Trains started a regular service. In 2013 Britain still can't get it's act together to build High Speed 2 because Tories are running scared from a bunch of nimbys. Nimbys who probably complain bitterly to anyone who will put up with their bleatings for more than 5 minutes about Britain no longer having as much power and influence as it did in Victorian times and fail to see the irony.

    And now the news:



    Just how noisy are wind turbines these days? This video should tell you everything you  need to know the next time some nimby complains that they shouldn't be given planning permission as they are noisy:
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    Monday, September 30, 2013

    CRYPTOLINK: Stillaguamish River Cast Update

    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.

    A few days ago, I posted another cast to my ever-growing bigfoot footprint database.  This was the Stillaguamish cast from 1980, documented by Douglas Trapp.  Shortly thereafter, I received an email from my good friend Daniel Perez, publisher of the Bigfoot Times newsletter.  He knew Douglass Trapp personally around this same time, and indeed did investigations with him on more than one occasion.  Daniel supplied me with the above newspaper clipping from the Lake Stevens Journal that gives details about the track find. 

     Read on...
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    CRYPTOLINK: Mogollon Monster

    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.


    The Mogollon Monster is a Bigfoot-type creature claimed to inhabit central and eastern Arizona along the Mogollon Rim. It is said to be nocturnal and omnivorous and very territorial. It walks with wide strides leaving 22-inch footprints.
    The creature has also been alleged to mimic birds, coyotes, and other wildlife, and will also make whistling sounds. It builds its nest out of pine needles, twigs, and leaves. It is also said that it will throw stones from a hidden location.
    Its feeding habit generally includes wildlife such as deer and it is reported that the creature decapitates its prey before devouring it. In most reports, just prior to an encounter, there is an eerie silence.
    The Mogollon Monster is said to be over seven feet tall and covered with reddish brown hair. Its large eyes are said to be wild and red. Witnesses say it has a strong pungent odor similar to that of dead fish, skunk, decaying peat moss, and musk of a snapping turtle.
    The oldest reported sighting of the Mogollon Monster was in 1903 in an edition of The Arizona Republican.
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