HAUNTED SKIES - 1957 Flying Egg

http://hauntedskies.blogspot.com/2012/01/flying-egg-daily-telegraph-5-11-57.html

IDENTIFY THIS INSECT

BRANDON MILLER WRITES: I'm new to northern Texas and have had 2 of these in my home in the last 2 days. Been trying to ID it with no luck. Hopefully you can help. Flying bug, all black. About 1 1/4 inches long. I don't know much about insects but it's got the shape of a large ant. I didn't realise it even had wings until I tried to scoop it out the door.

NAOMI WEST: Black deer

The other day Naomi told us that her brother had seen a melanistic deer near where she and Richie live. She followed it up with this link discussing how more black deer, which are rare in North America, are being spotted in Texas.

http://www.buckmanager.com/2008/07/21/more-black-deer-spotted-in-texas/

UNCONVENTION 2010: Jonathan Downes - Texas Blue Dogs

MORE BLUE DOG NEWS FROM DONDI

Mr. Downes,

I wrote you about a potential Blue Dog sighting here in Texas at the end of August. I have an update on this.

The veterinarian at Olney, who took charge of the carcass, sent it off for testing, which proved it was a coyote. My sister finally sent photographs of the creature, and it is indeed a mangy coyote. I noticed the teeth aren't as elongated and protruding as the Blue Dogs' seemed to be. It was also extra thin - emaciated actually - and you could see on the skin where the mange had taken hold quite readily. There was no smooth skin involved. The final bit were the photos of the hindquarters: there were no fat pads as on the specimen(s) that you studied while here.

I couldn't recall whether those occurred on just the males found, or any females, or both genders. This particular coyote was a male, however (and not rabid, thankfully).

I can forward the best of the photos if you would like them, but I'm pretty sure they'll tell you the same things that they told me. Alas! No Blue Dog here this time!

That said, it does bring up a few questions regarding the Blue Dog phenomenon. It seems like the majority of cases are called coyote by the end. The ones that you studied here in Texas this spring: were genetic tests ever done on them and if so, what was the result? I'm never sure if when they say it's a coyote they mean full-blooded, or hybrid (the red wolf is a coyote-wolf hybrid, they just discovered, so they do happen and are viable for reproduction). We do have a particular dog in Texas called a Blue Lacy that supposedly has coyote blood in it as well as various canine breeds, but it's a bluish-grey colour. It's furred, however. And then there's the Peruvian Inca Orchid and the Mexican Hairless Dog. They're not only the same colour and hairless (or can be), but have been mistaken for that "chupacabra" myth.

But one problem I have with thinking these dogs are the "Texas Blue Dog" that's been found is quite simply due to their scarcity. There have been more than one Blue Dog discovered that wasn't immediately identifiable as a mange-covered coyote, and that had various traits that weren't common to them or to any other dogs. A rare breed is one that is self-explanatory. Having several of these dogs running around wild until they're shot just doesn't seem like it's going to happen - not the least reason because as a rare breed, it's fairly expensive to buy one, and most people spending that much on an animal aren't just going to let it run off like that.

But, I'm more willing to consider a coyote/hairless hybrid as the Blue Dog. Are they rare? Yes. But it would explain the colouration, lack of hair - and even the dentition. The gene for hairlessness in both the breeds mentioned also tends to make them have fewer molars and premolars. That just leaves the incisors and canines, which could make it appear more vampiric in nature. As for the padding on the bottom, around the anal glands, I have to wonder if perhaps that's not part of a mutation involved with the cross-breeding. I know when a lion and a tiger produce a Liger, it suffers from giganticism - becoming the largest big cat in the world. However, a tiger and a lion, a tigon, suffers from dwarfism. It's the same type of genetics, lion and tiger, but the genders make the difference. If these types of abnormalities can happen to affect a creature's physical appearance, then it's plausible to think that something in the genetic combination of a coyote and Xolo, for example, might produce longer canines and padding at the hindquarters. Given the Orchid and the Xolo both originate from hot climates, we could be looking at an indigenous population that originated somewhere in the Mexico area (where it is desert, to the north), that has moved into the U.S. over time. People are constantly breeding new dogs to satisfy their desire for a better breed. I've heard from several different sources that the feral and/or abandoned dog population in some areas south of the border is downright appalling. I can't recall where they actually let the Orchids and/or Xolos mostly run around on their own down south, but I know I've seen something regarding it on an Animal Planet episode (yes, not the greatest of sources, but still quite informative). Coyotes have been around just as long as the Xolos, at the very least (some 3500 years).

But do I think that's the only explanation? Of course not. But if the padding is a development that has come with time rather than just with faulty genetics, then perhaps it has a basis in hotter climates than where it's been found recently. But that's just my tuppence worth. Take it as you will (preferably with a large salt block).

Dondi Ratliff

ANDREW GABLE: Blue Dog Thoughts (1)

I’ve been attempting to contribute somewhat to the Blue Dog research going on in Texas, or at least as much as I can contribute being in the eastern US and unable to offer any real assistance beyond trying to keep up on reports of similar animals, sometimes from other states as well. Which is why I was intrigued when a hairless coyote was reported from Steelton, PA (a suburb of Harrisburg) just this week, on July 20 (it’s bizarrely coincidental that this happens to come only a week or so after several of the hairless canines were shot in Hood County, Texas). Although “mangy coyote” is a common explanation for the Blue Dogs, an examination of the photo of the animal (http://www.wgal.com/news/24323601/detail.html) reveals a few differences. There is a good deal of facial resemblance, implying that indeed the Texas dogs may be at least part coyote, but the Steelton animal lacks the rougher hide of the Texas animals. Also the hind legs appear to be shorter than on the Texas animals, and the ears (although difficult to see clearly) appear to be pointed rather than the more rounded ears on many of the Texas ones.

This isn’t the first hairless animal in the Pennsylvania/Maryland area, however. A family living in a rural area near Joppa (Harford County), Maryland reported a bald canine beastie roaming their property in the summer of 2003. Apparently amateur cryptozoologists, they set up game cameras and captured several photos of the animal, including one of it drinking from a horse trough. In the summer of 2004, a similar animal was seen near Glyndon (Baltimore County), same state. Photographs were also taken of the Glyndon animal, and soon the two Maryland animals were given the name Hyote (hyena/coyote), although the two may not have even been the same individual. At least it wasn’t called Chupacabra, though… in the Glyndon case, though, an animal was captured on the property soon afterwards. The captured beast turned out to be a young red fox with a severe case of sarcoptic mange (some veterinarians felt it may have been afflicted with some sort of endocrine disorder, and not mange).

Autumn, 2005 saw the first reports of the rather endearingly, but unfortunately, named creature called the Yardley Yeti (admittedly, it was also called Lower Makefield Lurker, Bucks County Boggart, or New Hope Hyena, but none of those have the ring of the first name). The animal was sighted in the area surrounding New Hope (Bucks County), Pennsylvania. Chief Ken Coluzzi of the Lower Makefield police received several reports of the “mutant” animal. Eerily, just before Halloween that year, author Jonathan Maberry, who lives in the area, and his wife photographed the “Yeti” in a New Hope parking lot. A local newscaster, Don Polec, also saw the animal, which he said was nearly the size of a German Shepherd dog and grayish in color. Polec wrote an article on the beast in the aftermath of his sighting. The beast as photographed by Maberry seems to be a mangy something or other, but whether it’s a fox, a coyote, or even a domestic dog can’t be said for sure.

One of the things I had mentioned to Naomi was that a perusal of Chad Arment’s Varmints (an invaluable resource on reports of strange carnivores) turned up no older reports of animals resembling the Blue Dogs. In fact, in general the Elmendorf carcass from 2004 is the first mention of them I could track down. There are older reports of canine animals from the same general area as the Blue Dog sightings, but they seem to be of hyena-like animals with hair. There are a few reports of black, canine “vampire” animals from other locales in the southern United States (similar to the sightings of bizarre animals sometimes reported in conjunction with animal mutilations in Britain), but none from Texas proper; this possibly implies that the Blue Dogs are a fairly new phenomenon, whether they are an outside species that for whatever reason migrated to Texas only a few years ago or whether they’re an indigenous one of fairly recent vintage.

Back in the East, an article appeared in the Baltimore Sun a few years ago stating that game wardens were concerned with a recent upswing in reported cases of mange. It is tempting to wonder whether the Texas dogs are merely one facet of a larger phenomenon.

Samson foxes, mentioned by others, are another possibility for the appearances. These are gray foxes which lose much of their hair during the summer months. It is notable that many of these reports of hairless canines take place in the summer and early autumn. Many also seem to be considerably larger than foxes, and it’s interesting to consider whether a similar phenomenon can take place in coyotes.

BLUE DOG RESEARCH

We have an awful lot more material to release, and we have to admit that the only reason that it has not been released so far is that we have spent much of the last five days asleep. However, we shall be releasing more video and photographs over the next few weeks.


We are also being contacted by other people who have tales to tell, so for the moment the Texas Expedition Blog is becoming the Blue Dog research blog. Check this out:


http://texasbluedogs.blogspot.com/2010/03/lon-strickler-more-blue-dog-sightings.html

Excuses and Welcomes....

I'm rather late today in composing my blog posting. This is completely off-topic but last night I was out with my boyfriend Paul in Manchester. However, slightly on-topic was the decor of the bar we chose to spend the evening in. I wish I had photos. I was sitting for three hours just a foot away from a life-size wooden carving of a Komodo dragon. Over the other end of the room was another type of wooden lizard (also enormous) that I couldn't identify.

There were giant butterflies on the wall, gigantic plants in humungous vases, and they sold Dragon beer!

Anyhow, to business: today is the last Downesless day the CFZ in the UK will have to endure. Yesterday Naomi and Richie West waved goodbye to Jon and Corinna at the end of the 2010 Texas Blue Dog expedition. If you haven't been following the blue dog blog, then shame on you! The Downeses and Wests collected an unbelievable amount of evidence and information, and I for one, am hugely excited by it all.

And I'm sure that you will be excited at the prospect of having to read my witterings only once in a blue moon again, rather than the daily efforts of the last two weeks...

Welcome home, Corinna and Jon!!!

TEXAS LATEST: Blue Dog pictures

The Blue Dog pictures are in, from Texas...

...and they are

HERE

WE HAVE ARRIVED

Just to say that Corinna and I have arrived safely chez Naomi and Richie. The journey all went well but I am getting old for 36-hour journeys, and I can hardly walk this evening.

However, as always, Naomi and Richie have been wonderfully kind and hospitable to us, and introduced us to the joys of a rather nice Texan beer called Ziegenbock, which is something I think that I could become rather fond of. We have also met two charming little doggies called Salem and Tiberius, and eaten the nicest salad that I have ever consumed in half a century of salad consumption.

There will be a proper blog tomorrow, but I am too tired to do anything of the sort tonight.

WATCH THIS SPACE

LAUNCHING THE TEXAS EXPEDITION BLOG

http://texasbluedogs.blogspot.com/

Today we are launching the dedicated blog for the Texas expedition. Each time we do an expedition there is a dedicated blog but this one is different. Because we are going to have internet access most (if not all) of the time, we shall be able to upload stories, postings, pictures (and maybe even film) of our adventures, and will be able to share the expedition with the bloggo readership on an ongoing basis.

We are leaving the main bloggo in the capable hands of Lizzy Clancy and Graham Inglis, and we are sure they will do such a good job while we are away that you won't want to have us back in 18 days time....

THE NEXT FEW WEEKS ON THE BLOGGO

As anyone who has read the blog or watched OTT in the past few weeks will know, Corinna and I are off to Texas on Thursday.

This is unusual as far as expeditions are concerned, because although it is a bona fide expedition, and one which we hope will produce a formidable amount of data, as well as a jolly book showing us having an intrepid time, we are staying with our dear friends and benefactors Naomi and Richie West, and so will have Internet access while we are there.

So both Corinna and I shall be updating both our blogs daily (at least once). Expect stories, pictures and maybe even some film. The whole programme of the blogs will be compiled by Graham at CFZ base camp here in Devon, and Lizzy who will be at home in Lancashire.

There will be an editorial each day from Liz, and a daily update about life at the CFZ sans J+C by Graham. Oll will continue to run Yesterday's News Today, and I will post various bits and bobs from Texas. So I think that things are gonna go relatively smoothly.

Watch this space (and wait for a shite-storm of cock-ups).

WHAT WAS IT I SAID YESTERDAY?

Yesterday I noted that whenever I am engaged on an investigation news items come in thick and fast on related topics as if by magick. I am currently investigating the canids of the southern United States, in particular Texas, and look what turned up in my inbox yesterday evening!

There are only 42 Mexican Gray Wolves left in the wild in the United States: a 20% decline in just the past year. They're the most endangered mammal in North America and something needs to be done now to prevent them from going extinct.

This decline is not through any fault of the wolves, who have done everything needed to survive in the wild; they have formed packs, had pups, and successfully hunted native prey. The decline is human-caused and must be human-remedied.

The Fish and Wildlife Service must:

1. Give Mexican gray wolves greater endangered species protections.
2. Release more wolves into the wild and bolster the genetic fitness of the population.
3. Bring the criminals killing our wolves to justice.
4. Write a new science-based Recovery Plan because the outdated 1982 plan is not working.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service is managing Mexican wolves under a flawed 28-year old recovery plan that does not include recovery criteria, does not incorporate modern science, and has done little to protect the Mexican Wolf. This long-term mismanagement has pushed Mexican Wolves to the brink of extinction.

It's time for a new, modern Recovery Plan that will begin restoring a healthy Mexican gray wolf wolf population.


https://secure3.convio.net/wg/site/Advocacy?s_oo=IGJTBLsvoEtXnq5rmIL1pg..&id=335


Weird, huh?

RICHIE AND NAOMI WEST: CFZ EXPEDITION TO TEXAS

On March 4 Mr Jon Downes and his lovely wife Corinna will be flying to the States and arriving March 5. Naomi and I are excited about being able to host them while they are here in Texas. We are starting to build an itinerary for them to include at least one very exciting venture.

A woman in southeast Texas has discovered a small family of hairless canines (referred by the CFZ as the Texas Blue dog) living behind her back yard. She has been feeding them and wants the CFZ to film them.

Naomi and I will be going down to that location next week to install day/night video cameras to film these creatures in action.

When Jon and Corinna arrive, we will be going there to further investigate them. The word from the family who discovered these creatures is that they have very unusual habits not normally associated with canines. Jon and Corinna will be accompanied for part of their trip by a team from a London TV Company who are following the CFZ for 8 months for a feature documentary for BBC2 and will be including the blue dog research in their documentary. We are excited as this will be a big story in the Fortean world. This picture was taken of the creature by the woman in southeast Texas.

But Jon and Corinna's trip will not all be work. We have invited Nick Redfern and Ken Gerhard to a small welcoming party where a small few of Naomi's friends plan to make food and drink. Jon is planning to make a few appearances at local MUFON groups.

Jon and Corinna will be able to continue providing updates to the CFZ and their respective blogs from the States. They will have computer and email access.

Richie and Naomi

BLUE DOG EXPEDITION ANNOUNCEMENT

We can exclusively announce that due to the remarkable generosity of Richie and Naomi West, Corinna and I will be flying to Texas for a fortnight in mid March to carry on the Texas blue dog investigations at first hand.

The trip is being funded by Richie and Naomi who are being so ridiculously generous that words fail me, and I will never be rude to Richie, or tease Naomi again. No. Sadly, even in the face of such kindness I will not make promises that I cannot possibly keep.

Thank you, my dears, from the bottom of our hearts.

TEXAS BLUE DOG WEBSITE COMING SOON

I am getting increasingly fond of Naomi and Richie West - two of our Texas reps. Indeed I am fond of all of our Texas reps because they also include Redders and Ken Gerhard (who won my heart when he told an interviewer that his idea of a "good time" was "stalking through the woods at night with my shotgun, dressed in leather and wearing eyeliner."

God, I love the CFZ.

But Naomi and Richie are particularly dear to me. As regular readers will know, Naomi is running the Texas Blue Dog project for the CFZ, and she writes:

"Devin has finally written up his very lengthy blue dog story and is ready for me to post it to the web site. The URL is http://www.texasbluedog.org/. Devin wants it available as the authorised version for researchers and wants Richie and me to be the point of contact for any info seekers. He has put an ungodly amount of work into it (I have my work cut out for me) and he has even more planned. He also has exclusive pics."

So - there you have it....


He is anxious to hear what's going to happen with the new creature. I'm no longer convinced it's not the same as his after all, but I can hardly tell what I'm looking at in a field where even the experts don't know. :)

TEXAS BLUE DOG PROJECT: TV Report

I just wish that the TV Reporter didn't sound so much like John Waters narrating the opening scenes of Pink Flamingos

TEXAS BLUE DOG PROJECT: Field Report 5th September by Naomi West

Another anomalous dog has turned up here in Texas this week. This poor creature was poisoned after signs of animal mischief in someone's barn, and while I would advocate a much more humane method of pest control, I would prefer to see one of them trapped live for a change.

The barn’s owner was cousin to a student of taxidermist Jerry Ayer. Mr Ayer now has the creature in his possession, and Richie and I were privileged to meet with him today to see what we could obtain for the CFZ. We found the creature already skinned and mostly mounted, but the carcass was perfectly intact.

Part of the excitement over seeing a whole carcass was that in our research on Devin McAnally’s “Elmendorf Beast”, or Texas Blue Dog, we have had only bones to study. We have had to rely solely upon McAnally’s description and a few pictures to see the anomalous features that, besides hairless skin, included upper fangs and tiger-like claws that extended from very small feet. However, one look at the creature today told me that it was not the same creature as Devin’s.

First of all, I saw nothing that anyone
could call 'blue.' The skin, while mostly hairless, was closer to a
faded black/ dark chocolate. But the two most telling deviations from the Elmendorf Blue Dog were the feet and teeth, both of which were typically canine. Like the Elmendorf creature, there was some sparse hair along the top of the spine, which Mr Ayer said was identical to coyote hair. Mr Ayer, who has mounted more than his share of coyotes, said that the only 'uncoyote-like' feature was the bald and very wrinkled skin; he pointed out where the neck fell into many folds.

The creature did in fact look exactly like a coyote in every way, minus the skin. She was extremely thin with every vertebra visible, but without fur it is hard to say if she was malnourished. Mr Ayer says the skin does not appear to be afflicted with mange.

Mr Ayer, who doesn't believe in mythical creatures, rued the media exploitation of the 'chupacabra' hype, and was pleased with the CFZ's scientific approach.

We were able to collect some tissue and bone for the CFZ and are anxious for the results.

Now, if I could only learn to say laBORatory....

I cannot tell you how proud I am of Naomi and Richie, especially Naomi who wrote to me: "It WAS hard on me seeing the poor thing skinned, knowing he was poisoned, etc. But I didn't leave or throw up, even when the guy drilled through the skull and got bits of bone and brain all over the place. You would have been proud." I am very proud indeed, my dear. The girl has done good!

This is what cryptozoology SHOULD be about: fieldwork, and gathering hard evidence, not sitting back in armchairs and writing self-serving nonsense (says he, sitting back in his armchair and writing self-serving nonsense). We agree with Mr Ayer, that it is appalling that a perfectly natural (though undeniably fascinating, 'cause I have been fascinated by it for five years now) subject such as the Blue Dogs of Texas, has got mixed up with and contaminated by all sorts of quasi-paranormal nonsense...

Watch this space - things are only going to get better

FRISWELL'S FREAKY FEATURES: The Giant Rabbit of Texas

The other day Alan Friswell, the bloke who made the CFZ Feegee Mermaid and also the guy responsible for some of the most elegantly macabre bloggo postings, wrote me an email.

He had an idea for a new series for the bloggo. Quite simply he has an enormous collection of macabre, fortean, odd and disturbing magazine and newspaper articles, and he proposed to post them up on the bloggo.

Alan Writes: "Yes! Welcome to Friswell's Freaky Features, an ongoing spot on the CFZ blog page where you will encounter the fun, the freaky, the frightening and on occasion, the downright horrifying. Many of these items are from almost forgotten archives and no doubt should, in many cases, have stayed forgotten. But no chance of that on this site! So be prepared to be amazed by the bizarre manifestations of nature, the aberrations of the natural world and the complete (on occasion) mind-bending insanity of collective humanity. Read on...."



Unlike the picture of the giant ray, this supposedly overgrown rabbit, originally published in November, 1932 is surely a fake. That said, however, the deadpan tone of the writing, not to mention the fact that the image is not at all bad for its time, may well have convinced some more gullible souls of that period that mammoth jackrabbits might well have been on the loose in the southernmost regions of the US. And besides, everything's bigger in Texas....

NAOMI WEST: Lampasas Land Monster

A recent discovery has been made in Lampasas County, Texas: a large land monster is said to inhabit an open field to the left of Highway 190 West.

Richie and I were fortunate enough to spot this monster on our way to Austin three days ago.

We immediately pulled off the road to take her picture before she could vanish. Amazingly, we succeeded in capturing two very clear shots of her, but the pictures have been met with skepticism, including the typical “Photoshop” allegation.



Out of deference to the Loch Ness Monster, Richie refers to the Lampasas Land Monster as “Lessie.” True to our photo, Lessie has been reported as having the appearance of a rust-colored serpent with a seahorse-shaped head and emerald green eyes. She has been seen by a surprising number of residents and commuters, and one lady even claims to have walked up and touched her. There is much speculation as to what she could be, the two most popular theories being:

1) an evolved species of sea serpent that adapted when the ocean disappeared from Central Texas, or
2) a carefully constructed formation of bulldozer tracks.

Eyewitness reports indicate that Lessie frequents the same general
area of the field, and tends to remain remarkably still during
sightings. They say the best chances of spotting her are when the
grass is mowed.