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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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Monday, February 03, 2020

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.


BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF

Regular readers will know that in recent years we have migrated the two specialist Study Groups – Mystery Cats (curated by Carl Marshall and Olivia McCarthy) and Lake and Sea Monsters (curated by Sally Watts and Richard Muirhead) – to their own standalone blogs, although when there are postings, notifications of them can be found here on the main blog.


Now, we are doing the same for the BHM Study Group, curated by Glen Vaudrey and Nathan Jackson


On the Track (of Unknown Animals) Ep 111 (Loch Ness, Boleskine House, Crowley, Pink headed duck etc)

Here we have the 30th episode of the relaunched webTV show by the Centre for Fortean Zoology, written and presented by Jon Downes and Charlotte Phillipson, their families and other animals. 

In the new look OTT; we will try to keep the montly episodes to half an hour, but in between the scheduled episodes will be others - OTTXtra. So hold on, its gonna be a bumpy ride. And so far the bumpy ride seems to be a success: viewing figures are noticeably up, and the reactions we are getting seem very positive.

This episode contains:

•  Archie takes over
•  Nipper runs amok
•  Archie the dog historiasn
•  An explanation 
•  The last ydear at Loch Ness
•  Loch Ness: Fire at Boleskine House
•  Loch Ness: Aleister Crowley
•  The hunt for the pink headed duck
•  Why the PHD went extinct (if it did)
•  Walking sharks
•  Jon is perplexed
• Coming next month
• Changes at OTT
• The team says goodbye until next month
_________________________________

Some useful contacts:

CFZ Website
www.cfz.org.uk

CFZ Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/CFZ

OTT on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/OnTheTrack/

Jon on Twitter
@cfzjon

CFZ Blog Network
https://forteanzoology.blogspot.co.uk/

CFZ Publications
http://cfzresources.com/publishing/

CFZtv
https://www.youtube.com/user/cfztv

CFZ Next Generation Initiative
https://www.facebook.com/groups/29796...

CFZ MONTHLY NEWSLETTER #52

Dear Friends,

For those of you not in the know, at the beginning of each month we send out a newsletter to all members of the CFZ. The most recent (which went out a few minutes ago) included articles on OTT, changes at the CFZ, welcoming Guin, the way forward, a horned rooster, a mysterious severed head critiqued by Carl, remembering Mother, a strange creature,  Patreon, Richard Muirhead's new book, my new novel and record, a new book on vampires, Notes and Queries etc.

The infrastructure of the Centre for Fortean Zoology has changed rapidly over the last few years and truthfully doesn’t look like its going to stop changing anytime soon.

The newsletter costs a quid a month (or the equivalent in your currency) and is delivered straight into your inbox by a plethora of tiny invisible elves, or email if you prefer it that way.

You can sign up for it here: http://tinyurl.com/jtsq7ew

If you want to view a sample issue click here: http://tinyurl.com/pw7rw9l

THE LATEST FROM CFZ CANADA

The Centre for Fortean Zoology was founded in the UK in 1992 - nearly 20 years ago. Over the past two decades it has expanded to become a truly global organisation. We opened our American office in 2001, our Australian office in 2009, and in 2011 - we were proud to welcome CFZ Canada, curated by Robin Bellamy to the CFZ global family.

A Creepy UNESCO World Heritage Site

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.

MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: The Stonehenge Bird

I came across this somewhat strange story in a booklet I bought today at Oxfam,Macclesfield titled Legendary History and Folklore of Stonehenge by L.V.Grinsell (1975) which gave a reference to its origin in Notes and Queries 8th series,11,page 324 (1897) which I reproduce here: 


CHUPACABRAS STORIES

"Chupacabra" sighting in Fair Oaks?
Now, obviously the chupacabra isn't a real thing. However, somebody close to me has driven along Winding Way and between Chicago and Kenneth, ...
El Chupacabra Podcast by Paranormal Thoughts Podcast
One of the best known cryptids reported to this day, the El Chupacabra has been seen all throughout the Americas. This creature has terrorized ...

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

Argentina: Giant creature spotted in Nahuel Huapi 

THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN TIES

The Gonzo Daily: Monday/Tuesday
And so things are roughly back the way they should be, with the CFZ newsletter and the latest episode of OTT both going out this morning, and it is not quite eleven. There are a bevy of hospital appointments this week both for me and for Corinna, and my tax bill is higher than I thought that it would have been, because HMRC changed the goalposts, but on the whole everything is reasonably OK. Now for the new Gonzo websites...
The eagle-eyed amongst you will have also noticed that the Gonzo Multimedia websites have changed and are in a process of flux, so there are no individual sales links at the moment. But check out www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk for a thing of wonder.
There is - in the pipeline - a hunky-dory, all singing, all dancing, Gonzo Publications website which will feature all the Gonzo Books, the magazine, the blog posts, and everything else, but – once again – I am doing the coding for it and in the inevitable scramble to deal with everything else that I am having to deal with at the moment, not ignoring the emotional fallout from mother’s funeral only a fortnight ago, everything is delayed.
Remember us in your thoughts and prayers, please.
On which point, thank you so much to all of you who wrote to us giving kind words about Corinna and/or condolences for Mother. I will be writing back to you individually, but there were a lot of messages, and my time is embarrasingly limited at the moment. So, if you are one of the kind people who did so, please don't take offence that you have not had a reply.
YER 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-…
Blessed be.
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 eleven 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 #371/2
THE "BLOODY HELL WHAT WILL THEY THINK OF NEXT?" ISSUE
http://www.gonzoweekly.com/
In this frabjous issue Doug talks about how Big Sean helped him through a life crisis, Jon extolls Ransom Riggs and talks about gender, Graham looks at Hawkwind's forthcoming Hawkfest, we remember a night in Portsmouth with Pop Will Eat Itself, many years ago, Alan admires the paintings of Joie A. Pabilando, we are surprisingly impressed by the new album by Eminem, and unsurprisingly so by the new Pet Shop Boys record, and we go on Animal Rescue missions with PAART.
And there are radio shows from Mack Maloney and Friday Night Progressive AND Canterbury sans Fronieres AND Merrell Fankhauser, but no sign of Strange Fruit this week, there is a column from Kev Rowland, but Mr Biffo, and C J Stone, and Neil Nixom abd Roy Weard, 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:
Moore's Law, John Higgs, Ozzy Osbourne, Gorillaz, Lindsey Buckingham, Bart Lancia, The Dave Foster Band, Brian May, Pop Wil Eat Itself, Friday Night Progressive, The Merrell Fankhauser Radio Show, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Carmelo Esteban "Steve" Martin Caro, Chamin Correa, Guy Deplus, Hylda Sims, Dan Andrei Aldea, James Edward Heath, Robert Parker, Sunanda Patnaik, Thérèse Allah, better known as Allah Thérèse, David Charles Olney, Chris Darrow, Dennis Garcia, Terence Graham Parry Jones, Rick Wakeman, Gerry Beckley, The Waterson Family, The Fall, Richard Wright and Dave Harris-Zee, Chasing the Monsoon, Doug Harr, Big Sean, PAART, Alan Dearling, Andy Wood, Joie A. Pabilando, Kev Rowland, Kissin' Dynamite, Faerenus, Like a Storm, Lisa Larue, Millenium, Madsen, Major Parkinson, Carl Marshall, Geordie Jackson, Zombie Cinema, Tony Klinger, Jade Goody, Hawkwind, Jonathan Downes, Wild Colonial Boy, Ransom Riggs, Martin Springett, A Map of Days, Pet Shop Boys, Eminem
And the last few issues are:
Issue 375-6 (Big Sean)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-375-6.html
Issue 373-4 (End of the World)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-373-4.html
Issue 371-2 (New Year)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-371-2.html
Issue 369-70 (Christmas)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-369-70.html
Issue 367-8 (Register to Vote)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-367-8.html
Issue 365-6 (Rick Wakeman)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-365-6.html
Issue 363-4 (Focus)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-363-4.html
Issue 361-2 (Martin Springett)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-361-2.html
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 and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we mention Archie and the Cats?

NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Monday/Tuesday

ON THIS DAY IN -  1488 - The Portuguese navigator Bartholomeu Diaz landed at Mossal Bay in the Cape, the first European known to have landed on the southern extremity of Africa.
And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • Academy scientists describe 71 new species in 2019...
  • Lights on fishing nets save turtles and dolphins
  • This could be the biggest sea turtle swarm ever fi...
  • Tennessee Aquarium leads effort to develop interac...


  • 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)