NEWSPAPER ARCHIVE

THIS TURNED OUT TO BE A RIP-OFF, SO BEWARE

Some years ago I signed up to 'Friends Reunited' - not entirely to my surprise, most of the people who were my particular cronies back in the 1970s were not on there. Whether that means that they are such well-rounded characters that they feel no need to revisit their schooldays and hook up with people with whom after decades of separation they have damn all in common anymore (if, indeed, they ever did) or whether it means that they are now deadbeats who cannot afford a computer I don't know. However, today `FR` sent me this: something that may actually turn out to be a good resource....

Launch of the British Newspaper Archive

Friends Reunited are pleased to introduce you to our sister site, the British Newspaper Archive (BNA). Launched by a merry band of retro-Victorian news vendors at King’s Cross Station on 29 November, the BNA contains over 3 million historical newspaper pages from over 200 local, national and regional titles from across the UK and Ireland. Today, the majority of newspaper pages on the BNA website are from the 19th Century. But with up to 8,000 pages being added daily, the website will eventually span the years 1720 to 1950. Every page on the website is fully-searchable, the website is free to search and registration is free, too.

Visit the BNA »

FREE ACCESS TO 'SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN' ARCHIVE

http://www.nature.com/scientificamerican/archive/index.html

Now available: 1845-1909 archive collection

Free access - extended through December 31st, 2011

Now through December 31, 2011, you and your patrons will enjoycomplimentary access to more than 75,000 articles from classic issues featured in the Scientific American 1845-1909 archive collection. This collection is a treasure trove that includes 65 years of scientifichistory, breakthroughs, inventions, and triumphs.

ARCHIVING PROJECT: BHM Part Four

As you know, Oll has been working on the archiving project since early February, and he is now working on the BHM section. This 4th trenche is a mixed bag of bigfoot and yeti stories from the 1980s and 1990s, from the United States in the mid 1990s, which were - by the way - originally from the collection of Craig from the long defunct Crypto Chronicle

HERE

ARCHIVING PROJECT: BHM Part One

As you know, Oll has been working on the archiving project since early February, and he is now working on the BHM section. This 1st trenche is mostly bigfoot stories from the United States in the mid 1990s, which were - by the way - originally from the collection of Craig from the long defunct Crypto Chronicle

HERE

CFZ ARCHIVING PROJECT - Big Cats part 9

As you know, Oll has been working on the archiving project since early February, and he is now working on the Mystery Cat section. This 9th trenche is a mixed bag, including stories from Africa, various parts of the UK, and the United States, and mostly dating from the mid 1990s. And this is the last big cat archive update for a while. There will be more, but not yet....

HERE

NEIL ARNOLD: THE CFZ CRYPTOZOOLOGICAL DOCUMENTARY ARCHIVE

I have known Neil for fifteen years now, since he was a mod schoolboy with ambitions for adventure and I was an earnest young hippy who merely wanted to start a club for people interested in unknown animals. Nothing much has changed over the years; we are just both a tad older....

I recently spoke with Jon as he knows of my large collection of paranormal-related documentaries and films and I mentioned about it becoming part of the CFZ Museum/archive as such. For many years I’ve collected documentaries, news clips, tv shows, films and series pertaining to monsters, ghosts, UFOs, etc, etc. I did this because I felt that too many great programmes from many years ago were simply forgotten and would no doubt be wiped from T.V. archives etc. I thought it a great idea that maybe the CFZ could have dvd copies, which kids, and whoever else was interested, could maybe view at the museum etc.

If anyone has any material they’d like to share, or wants to find an old crypto-documentary then let me know. Much of what I have will be put to disc and eventually Jon and co. could store these copies at the CFZ. I have a big list of material, from ‘big cat’ docu’s and news clips, to rare lake monster footage, to zooform shows. If you think it’s a good idea, let me know.

CFZ ARCHIVING PROJECT - Big Cats part 8

As you know, Oll has been working on the archiving project since early February, and he is now working on the Mystery Cat section. This 8th trenche is a mixed bag, including stories from Devon, and the United States, and mostly dating from the mid 1990s. There is only one more biog cat trenche to go before we enter into the wonderful world of BHMs

HERE

CFZ ARCHIVING PROJECT - Big Cats part 7

As you know, Oll has been working on the archiving project since early February, and he has just started the Mystery Cat section. This seventh trenche is a mixed bag, mostly from the mid 1990s, and covers sightings in Engfland, Wales and France

HERE

CFZ ARCHIVING PROJECT - Big Cats part 6

As you know, Oll has been working on the archiving project since early February, and he has just started the Mystery Cat section. This fourth trenche is mostly from the mid 1990s, but with a few from much earlier, and mainly covers London and the Home Counties, and includes the original press reports of Lara the Lynx

http://www.cfz.org.uk/Archiving/ABC%205/

NEIL ARNOLD: All Bizarre Creatures Great & Small Part Two

I have known Neil for fifteen years now since he was a schoolboy modwith ambitions for adventure and I was an earnest young hippie who merely wanted to start a club for people interested in unknown animals. Nothing much has changed over the years. We are just both a tad older...

From the Rochester Gazette & Weekly Advertiser, Tuesday July 19th 1831 Number 539 (Extracted from the Stirling Journal)

ENORMOUS SKATE – A skate of extraordinary dimensions was exhibited here on Saturday last. The gross weight was no less than 126 lbs, length measured 6 feet 8 ½ inches, and in circumference 11 feet 2 inches. It was captured in the stake nets off Hopetown House, a few miles on this side of Queensferry. The natural history of the skate presents a variety of singular facts, and not the least remarkable of its properties is that it can be preserved for an indefinite period without the application of salt…’

From the Rochester Gazette & Weekly Advertiser, Tuesday November 1st 1831 – Number 554 (Page 2) Extracted from the Kendall Chronicle

A SINGULAR CREATURE – On Sunday last, as William Musgrove, resident in Kirkland, was raking a stroll with one or two friends in the vicinity of Whitbarrow Scar, accompanied by a couple pf famous vermin hounds (we have his own authority for saying they are the best in all of England!) one of the dogs took the drag of what Musgrove thought at the time might be a martin or perhaps a fox. They ran this drag to about two miles when coming to the Scar they halted, and from their motions, which were as well understood by their master as if they had spoken the Kings English, Musgrove was convinced that the game was at hand, of whatever description it might then turn out to be. He and his friends therefore proceeded forthwith to assist their quadruped allies, and after some little difficulty succeeded in dragging the object of their pursuit from his romantic hiding place, when strange to say, it turned out to be a racoon! The captive stranger was in capital condition and was brought home by Musgrove in high glee. From appearances the animal had been in the neighbourhood of Whitbarrow Scar for a considerable time, to which seat of freedom he probably found his way from – caravan of wild animals, or from the caresses of some travelling foreigner.’

From the Rochester Gazette & Weekly Advertiser, Tuesday November 15th 1831 – Number 556 (Page 3)

‘The king presented to the Zoological Society the entire contents of his menagerie, now deposited in the Tower. They amount to almost thirty in number and include four lions, three bears (the large bear is an extraordinary animal), one black wolf, three blood hounds, five leopards and three hyenas.’

THE FINAL TRENCHE OF FOLKLORE ARCHIVES ARE ONLINE

Oll has been a busy little beaver and the latest set of scanned news clippings and other stuff from the Archiving Project is ready for you to download HERE should you want to..

The CFZ Archives yeild up a particularly odd collection of stuff this time. There are my working notes for the book which I still have not got around to finishing on the mystery animals of Devon and Cornwallo. I started this tome in 1990, and am still working intermittently on it now, although bits appeared in both The Owlman and Others and The smaller Mystery Carnivores of the Westcountry, as well as various articles. However they also contain some particularly off stories, such as the one about the Philippino girl who was murdered and fed to a pet cat.

The next trenche oif archives (Big Cats) will start appearing either next week or over the weekend...

THE INDEXING PROJECT IS UNDERWAY - BUT NEEDS YOUR HELP

Things are going on apace with the indexing project. It is horribly tedious, and I am very grateful to dear Heather and Lee for their sterling work. They are both working very hard on the project. The first semi-completed page is now up. It covers anomalous behaviour from aquatic animals, such as strandings, attacks and unusual swarms and gatherings. The periodical data needs to be added, but you can find it here:

http://cryptozoology-bloggodex.blogspot.com/2009/05/aquatic-cryptozoology-anomalous.html
This is an urgent plea to anyone who feels like joining in. There are enormous amounts of this stuff to be done. I estimate that the CFZ Archives actually contain over 25,000 items and they are growing daily. So PLEASE if you have an hour or so on your hands, and especially if you are au fait with the most rudimentary html coding, please get in touch with me at jon@eclipse.co.uk

The 9th trenche of bird related clippings from the Archive Project

Oll has been a busy little beaver and the latest set of scanned news clippings and other stuff from the Archiving Project is ready for you to download HERE should you want to..

This is the ninth and last trenche of bird related scans, which are all from Westcountry bird reports from the early 20th Century.

It is strange, but I haven't actually looked into our clippings archive boxes for years - some of them not since Alison (my first wife) cut them out and put them into the files in the first place about fifteen years ago, and I had forgotten that most of this stuff even existed.

The seventh lot of bird related clippings from the archives

Oll has been a busy little beaver and the latest set of scanned news clippings and other stuff from the Archiving Project is ready for you to download HERE should you want to..

This is the seventh trenche of bird-related clippings which are, once again, mostly about moas.


It is strange, but I haven't actually looked into our clippings archive boxes for years - some of them not since Alison (my first wife) cut them out and put them into the files in the first place about fifteen years ago, and I had no idea that we had so much Moa stuff.

STRANGE STORIES FROM BLACKBURN

Hello Jon,

I enjoy your blog immensely and check it every day for weird and wonderful titbits. Rather like Richard Muirhead, I am gradually working my way through bound volumes of a late 18th/early 19th century newspaper, the Blackburn Mail, in my case for local historical information (I am the town's museum curator). However, I have so far come across three interesting cryptozoological stories from the 1790s, which I attach for your interest. The first is the most fascinating to me, as it took place in a local mill lodge. The other two are not local, but no less interesting - while the creatures in the farmer's field at Hooton Roberts (near Rotherham) seem inexplicable, our old friend the entombed toad makes yet another appearance.

Anyway, I hope that you find these cuttings of some use - keep the blog rolling and take no heed of the miserablists.

Best wishes,

Nick Harling

Blackburn Mail June 28th 1797
Blackburn Mail November 6th 1793
Blackburn Mail August 13th 1797

MUIRHEAD'S MYSTERIES: 600 snakes and a very big fish

Just a pair of short items today from the archives of the Macclesfield Courier in keeping with my custom of presenting pairs of cryptozoological or Fortean stories from the past,an aspect of cryptozoological research I hope to build upon in the months and years ahead.

Could this item below have been a seal or small whale? Not being a marine biologist,or even much of a zoologist I am unaware of the normal weight of these creatures.

“An extraordinary fish was caught last week near Chertsey-bridge (1): it has no scales upon it, is of a lead colour, and weighs 300lb.” Macclesfield Courier July 25th 1812 p.3.

“On Tuesday last 600 snakes which had nestled in some old manure,lying on a field at Boltham,near Lincoln,were destroyed.” Macclesfield Courier August 1st 1812. p.3

Tragically this was the all too common fate of these “snake swarms” which turned up in huge numbers all at once like this in the 19th century.

(1) In S.W. London probably

GUEST BLOGGER RICHARD MUIRHEAD: A couple of interesting stories

As regular readers willknow, Richard is one of my dearest friends, and furthermore someone I have known since 1970 when we were children together in Hong Kong. He is a natural polymath, and one of the best researchers I have ever met. Proof of this particular pudding comes in these two stories which he fished out of his local public library..

I found the following two stories in the Macclesfield Courier and Stockport Express or Cheshire General Advertiser.(MCSE or CGA)

1."Wild Man- A wildman was lately caught in the forests of Hungary,by
a Wallachian, who first perceived him seated upon a tree, eating
leaves. He appeared to be 24 years of age,and had his back and chest
entirely overspread with a thick covering of hair: his skin was a dark
yellow. He expressed only confused cries and a sort of murmer. He
became melancholy at the sight of a forest or a garden and sought to
hide himself in such places. After having been kept 2 or 3 years in
captivity,he began to eat dressed meat,and from that moment his manners
became less savage; and his body losing a considerable portion of its
hairy covering,became less yellow. He is now quite civilized,and
performs the office of water-carrier;but never advances so far as to be
able to speak words and sentences in succession. MCSE or CGA March 23rd
1811.

2. An eagle of an immense size,was shot lately at Heaton Norris near
Stockport by Mr Geo.Bromiley of Gorton,which measured from tip to tip
of the wings 7 feet ten inches,in length 3 feet 4 inches,and weighed
nearly 18 pounds. This mighty monarch of the air was fired at when in
the very act of attacking a young pig,and being only slightly wounded
in the shoulder and back part of the head great pains were taken to
seure him alive,but from the very stout resistance he made,it became
necessary to kill him to prevent his escaping. He is now in the museum
of Mr Priestnall, surgeon, in Stockport, and is supposed to be the
largest Bird of the kind ever shot in England. MCSE or CGA March 30th
1811