Wednesday, May 08, 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.


  • CARL WRITES: 5/4/19 - Harrowbarrow, Cornwall
  • SIGHTING, UK: Another big cat spotted in Britain a...
  • SIGHTING, UK: Big cat fears grow in South West as ...
  • CARL WRITES: 31/3/19 - Dunmow, Essex
  • NEWSLINK: Tiger attack sends keeper to the hospita...
  • ARTICLE: Big cats on the prowl

  • VIDEO: Rare White Lion Cubs Born at Crimean Safari...
  • NESSIENEWS (Caveat Lector)




    The Loch Ness Monster, also known as Nessie, is a mythical creature that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in Scotland. It is often described as large in size ...


    Legends Of Long-Necked Sea Monsters May Be Influenced By Dinosaurs ... In the case of the Loch Ness monster, the story has been attributed to a ...

    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 BLOWS AN IDIOT WIND

    The Gonzo Daily: Wednesday
     
    It is cold, damp and grey outside. Apparently the accelerated melting of the Arctic ice cap is pushing cold air southwards. It is truly not very nice here at the moment, especially considering it is mid May and we were warned to expect baking heat. Everything is getting weirder and weirder - just look around you. And you might well have thought that I would have embraced this, but I don't.
     
    Toodle-pip
     
    YER EDITOR SEZ:
    THE DIGITAL PRAYER FLAG
     
    You guys out in readership land recently did massive amounts of praying for my wife Corinna. And that now - at least at the moment - she appears to be cancer free. I am convinced that these two things are related. A prayer flag (Lung ta) is a colourful rectangular cloth, often found strung along mountain ridges and peaks high in the Himalayas, used to bless the surrounding countryside and for other purposes. I believe something similar happens with positive vibes transmitted electronically, and - having used it to such good effect with my dear wife's condition - I want to try it on a larger scale. I am still trying to work out the details, so watch this space.
     
    Find out more:
     
    Blessed be.
     
    ALL TODAY'S GONZO NEWS WOT'S FIT TO PRINT:
     
    THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Maria Callas - Puccini...
    THAT FZ HOLO9GRAM REARS ITS UGLY HEAD AGAIN
    JON ANDERSON AT CAPITOL THEATRE
    CHRIS SQUIRE EN PASSANT
    THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
     
    For those of you who are interested in such things, the Gonzo Privacy Policy is here:
     
     
    And the CFZ Privacy Policy is here:
    And, yes,
     
    CHECK OUT THE GONZO STORES:
     
    UK
    US
     
    AND OTHER STUFF FEATURING VARIOUS GONZO CONTRIBUTORS:
     
    Our webTV show:
     
    And if you fancy supporting it on Patreon:
     
    And by the way chaps and chappesses, a trip to the Jon Downes megastore may seem to be in order:
     
    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 #335/36
    THE DEAR PRUDENCE ISSUE
     
    In a bittersweet issue we meet Raz of the eponymous RAZ band, to talk about their ground-breaking new album with Joey Molland late of Badfinger, Graham explains how Dave Brock has got involved with U.S Presidential politics, and also goes to the hawkwind Summer Sundae, Alan gets the Blues in Scotland, Richard joins the Rxtinction Rebellion whilst Jon muses upon them and other peculiar subjects including Daisy et al Imminentizing the Eschaton, Dean remembers Wally Hope, Kev remembers Bernie Tormé and an interview he did some years ago,  Carl looks at cult Spaghetti Westerns, whilst we all say goodbye to Prudence.
     
    Hail Eris!
     
    And there are radio shows from Mack Maloney and Friday Night Progressive AND Strange Fruit AND Canterbury Sans Frontieres. AND there is a column from Kev Rowland, BUT Neil Nixon, Mr Biffo, C J Stone, and Roy Weard,and the irrepressible Corinna are on hiatus.  There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and southern dibblers who are walking in twos (OK, nothing to do with tiny marsupials who are paired up, 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:
     
    Prudence, Julian Assange, John Lennon, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Woodstock 50, Camel, Pink Floyd, Prince, Olivia  McCarthy, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Canterbury Sans Frontieres, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Earl Thomas Conley, Paul Martin Raymond,  Dina (born Ondina Maria Farias Veloso), Jörg Demus, Kent Levaughn Harris, Leslie David Reed OBE, Johnny 'Hutch' Hutchinson (also known as Johnny Hutch), Joe Terry (born Joe Terranova), Ed Tigner, Jr., (better known as Eddie Tigner), Amar Pal, Dave Samuels, Dick Rivers (born Hervé Forneri), Pink Fairies, Rick Wakeman, Comic Strip Presents, Iona, Essra Mohawk, The RAZ Band, Joey Molland, Michael Rescigno, Kev Rowland, Bernie Tormé, Alan Dearling, Scottish Blues Weekend, Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival, Big Jon Atkinson, Øyvind Stølefjell, Kyla Brox, New Blues Session, Nicole Smit, Gus Munro, Thomas Lucas, The Jensen Interceptors, Sandy Tweeddale, Tim Elliott,  Allan Jones, Toby Mottershead, Rollin' Joe Dalton, Richard Foreman, XR, Dean Phillips, Wally Dean, Voices, Wiegedood, Winterfylleth, Within the Giant's Reach, '77, Fistula/Hemdale, World Demise, Age of Taurus, Amanda Somerville's Trillium, Carl Marshall, Geordie Jackson, Spaghetti Westerns, Tony Klinger, Graham Inglis, Hawkwind, Jon Downes, The Wild Colonial Boy, Martin Springett, Daisy Campbell, John Higgs
     
    And the last few issues are:
     
    Issue 331-32 (Scott Walker)
    Issue 329-30 (Charlie X)
    Issue 327-28 (Hawkwind)
    Issue 325-26 (Gonzo)
    Issue 323-24 (Irvine Welsh)
    Issue 321-22 (Discordianism)
    Issue 319-20 (Brix Smith)
    Issue 317-18 (Christmas)
    Issue 315-16 (Steve Miller)
    Issue 313-14 (Hawkwind)
    Issue 311-12 (Extinction Rebellion)
    Issue 309-10 (Steve Hillage)
    Issue 307-8 (Michael Moorcock)
    Issue 305-6 (Maartin Allcock)
    Issue 303-4 (kOZFEST)
    Issue 301-2 (Ringo Starr)
    Issue 299-300 (Aretha Franklin)
    Issue 298 (Alan in Hungary)
    Issue 297 (Shir Ordo)
    Issue 295-6 (Robert Berry)
    Issue 294 (Bow Wow Wow)
    Issue 293 (Stonehenge)
    Issue 292 (Rolling Stones)
    Issue 291 (Alien Weaponry)
    Issue 290 (Frank Zappa)
    Issue 289 (Misty in Roots)
    Issue 288 (Paula Frazer)
    Issue 287 (Boss Goodman)
    Issue 286 (Monty Python)
    Issue 285 (ELP)
    Issue 284 (Strangelove)
    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 59 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?

    NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Wednesday

    ON THIS DAY IN - 1096 - Peter the Hermit and his army reached Hungary. They passed through without incident. 
    And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk


  • Elephant ears and lion bones among hunting trophie...
  • Five new frog species from Madagascar – via Herp D...
  • Why endangered species matter
  • Smuggled orangutan seized at Bali airport

  • Bringing endangered species back from the brink


  • 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)