ANOTHER UNIDENTIFIED BIRD...

This video was posted up on YouTube a year or so ago with the caption "Unidentified species of bird visiting me in my London backyard". The more cynical amongst you will, no doubt, be expecting another bad tempered Jon Downes rant about people not knowing anything about the natural world. Well you would be wrong.


The bird is (as far as I can tell) an albino peahen, and it is making a most peculiar noise, and whether London is in Ontario or the UK, (or indeed any of the fifteen Londons in the USA or eight in Canada, or one of the two in Australia, or the one in South Africa or even the one in Kiribati) it is not the sort of thing that one expects to see trundling around your garden whilst you are nursing a hangover and trying to make yourself a fried egg sandwich!

THERE SHOULD BE A GOOD PEASANT AND PHEASANT JOKE HERE

An unidentified bird? Pah! This is the latest in our ongoing series of why are people so bloody ignorant about the world in which they live...

GUEST BLOGGER LIZ CLANCY: Addy and Obby move to the city

It is always nice to be able to introduce you all to a new guest blogger. Possibly the nicest thing about the CFZ bloggo is that it is a living, breathing community, and new people arrive on a regular basis. I can't tell you anything about Liz, apart from the fact that she bought some books from us at UnCon, briefly spoke to Richard, and had a charmingly old-fashioned habit of referring to me as `Mr Downes`, when everyone else calls me `Jon` or `Hey You` (or sometimes something more scatological), until I told her not to. She is obviously one to watch....

As I set out at eight o’clock from Ashton News to do my paper round (yes at twenty-four the credit crunch has brought me very low!) a very serious fact finally dawned on me: slowly but surely, the town where I live is losing its identity. It began in on 1st April 1974 when Heywood Town Council was dissolved after almost one hundred years of independence, and nearby Rochdale took over – incidentally the date chosen was rather apt since many Heywood residents still feel that Rochdale has rather treated us as a joke ever since.

The most recent thing was the much disputed move of the Heywood Advertiser, our beloved local paper, to offices in the Rochdale Observer building. The move was designed by MEN media (Guardian Group), the owners of both newspapers, to save money. Redundancies were also announced. However it does get worse. In the last couple of weeks it was announced that, actually, further cuts are apparently required and the Rochdale offices (which now home three supposedly local newspapers) will be closed and moved to Manchester, with a further 150 job losses. The same is happening all over the Northwest.

Has the world gone mad?! Manchester is not exactly the moon but our news will no longer be local. Such small newspapers as these are treasure troves for cryptozoologists with the wealth of clippings that can be taken but will swanky city journalists give a toss if an eider duck is found a good 40 miles from the coastline in a little town like ours or if a resident claims to have seen a panther in the park late at night? I think not. The local quirks of such towns and villages are being eroded by metropolitanisation, the reason is money and such stories will be cast by the wayside in favour of yet more photos of simpering local politicians decorating articles about what wonders they are doing for the town. Even today many young people in Heywood and Rochdale haven’t a clue about their town’s history or heritage. How much worse will this get if everything local is moved away?

GUEST BLOGGER NIGEL WRIGHT: The Exmouth Mermaid - the mystery deepens

However long one is in this weird game of being a paranormal journalist, things can still catch you out. So it is with the story of the Exmouth mermaid, as I reported in my last blog for this column. Now, one would think that, after twelve years or so of writing for a living, I would have leaned to double check my sources etc. Well, I have been somewhat caught out by this one! The story of the Exmouth mermaid of 1812 is, in its essence true, but the one thing that does not ring true is the illustration that accompanies it.

It all started due to a reader of the article asking me for a higher resolution copy of the picture. This is a perfectly fair request, and one that I was happy to oblige with. Upon deeper research on the net, I found that the picture involved almost perfectly matched a drawing of a mermaid, famous in cryptozoology circles, called the “Feejee” mermaid. This was exhibited by the famous showman Barnum, in the US in the 1840”s. “Odd!” I thought, so I dug even further. Now, this is where the tale darkens somewhat. What on earth was a picture of an 1840’s exhibit doing, illustrating a story in an 1822 newspaper? For a moment my mind raced with fantasies of time warps etc! Oh!..The follies of old age! But, I am sad to say, the answer lay in the timeline of the relic itself. Let’s have a look at that timeline:-

1822…an American sea captain, Samuel Barret Eades brought to London a wonderful relic, which he had come across in the far east. This relic had been got from Dutch fishermen, who, in turn, had obtained it from some Japanese fishermen. This was the mermaid!. It was exhibited at the Turf coffeehouse, at St. James Street. Now, the same paper that had reported the Exmouth case, The “London Mirror” also reported on the number of visitors to this exhibition, some 400 a day!

1823...The exhibition comes to an end, when Eades is sued by the co-owner of the ship he had sold to but the mermaid in the first place. The relic disappears from public view then until the 1840’s, when it is sold to Barnum by Moses Kimball, owner of the Boston museum.

So, there is the answer!. For whatever reason he had at the time, the editor of the “London Mirror” decided to illustrate the 1812 Exmouth story with a picture of the “feejee” mermaid, which was at that time being exhibited at St James Street!. Journalistic license indeed!

The moral of this story? Well always double, double check your sources! And remember, there is always more than one ending to any story!

RICHARD FREEMAN: Canadian Seal Slaughter

Canada is gearing up to slaughter 64,000 seal pups in its annual orgy of barbarity, greed and spineless cowardice. These animals die to make coats for stupid and overpriveliged women. The lies spun by fishermen about 'needing to control seal numbers' and 'seals depleting fish stocks' beggar belief. It is human fishermen who have made the fish stocks crash by greedily over fishing them. They then have the temerity to blame the seals. Nature has its own checks and balances without humans sticking their oar in. This is another example of why scientists, not politicians should be in charge.


Visit the site and lobby your MP to have this atrocity stopped.
http://www.stopthesealhunt.co.uk/site/c.ltJWJaMOIqE/b.2610359/k.BF29/Home.htm

GUEST BLOGGER JAN EDWARDS: Totem animals

We have been in contact with Jan for ages, and it is with great pleasure that we welcome her aboard, not only as a guest blogger, but as a Co. Durham representative for the CFZ. With Davy Curtis already at the helm in the country, the two of them will make a dream team par excellence...

According to Wiccan tradition, it is wrong to mix-and-match different traditions, and you should stick to your own culture and your own Path. I’m not Wiccan, and I believe that if it feels right to you and you have done some research into the Path, then do it. Many people believe that totem animals Native American spirituality, however they can be found in many Shamanistic paths, including Odinism.

I get annoyed with people who say that a particular animal is their totem(or spirit) animal. But, if you ask them anything about that particular creature, they don’t know. And....if snake is your totem...which snake? Cobra? Anaconda? Grass snake?

If Cat is your totem, which type? Domestic? (if so what breed); Scottish Wildcat? Puma? Siberian Tiger?

Each different species bring different qualities as a totem animal.

My personal totem/spirit guide is the serpent – actually the British Adder. It is our only venomous snake, and is secretive, sensuous and can hurt if it gets pi*sed off! I don’t know if the serpent figures strongly in the Old Path, but it feels right.

Odin's totem animals are his ravens "Hugin and Munnin" and his wolves "Freki and Geri"
The god Ing-Frey (The Nordic Horned God of Animals, Trees, Fertility, Elves, Peace, and Prosperity) rides a golden boar.
Does anyone know of other examples?


Jan Edwards, Head of Animal Care
Farplace Animal Rescue - the no-kill animal sanctuary
Farplace, Sidehead, Westgate, County Durham, DL13 1LE
www.farplace.org.uk

RICHARD FREEMAN: The Romance of the Televisual Arts

I was recently aproached by a company called Edge TV who asked me if I wanted to appear on a show called On The Edge. It appears on Controversial TV on Sky Channel 200. I'd never heard of the channel or the show, but crop circle master Matt Williams had been on and recommended them to me. The programme didn't pay but it was two hours of live TV, so I decided to go.

The studios were located on an industrial estate in exotic Milton Keynes. Built in the 1960s and 70s, Milton Keynes is a town with no history. Its an odd feeling to be in a quite sizeable town where none of the buildings are much over four decades old.

I was met by Theo Chalmers who would be interviewing me. He seemed well informed and genuinely interested. Among the other staff was 'Widget' a 6 foot punk with a turquoise mohican, a peirced nose, tatoos and a Dead Kennedies t-shirt (he would fitted in well at the CFZ) and his very pretty girlfriend Clair who worked one of the cameras.

The talk lasted two hours and went very well, covering most of my expeditions and discussing most of the major cryptids. I managed to get a couple of appeals for sponsorship in as well. Viwers texed in with questions all night.

However on live TV embarrasing things are wont to happen. I almost knocked over a glass of water but managed to catch it. Later there was a cock up with the sound as we went into a break. The mics were on longer than they should have been, so the viewers heard me say that I was going for a leak! One guy texted in to ask if I enjoyed it!

Theo and the others were very pleased with the show and said it was one of the most interesting they had done.