Colin Wilson RIP

Jon Downes writes...

"Colin Henry Wilson (26 June 1931 – 5 December 2013) was a prolific English writer who first came to prominence as a philosopher and novelist. Wilson also wrote widely on true crime, mysticism, the paranormal, and other topics. He preferred calling his philosophy new existentialism or phenomenological existentialism. It is always strange writing an obituary for a man that I knew. I didn't know him well, but our paths crossed two or three times in the course of my chequered career.

"I first met him at the Exeter University Science Fiction Club conference in 1989, when he gave a fascinating talk on the subject of Peak Experiences, and afterwards he and I spoke for several hours about the philosophy of Abraham Maslow, who - it turned out had been a friend and colleague of his.

"I met him again, many years later, at one of the Fortean Times Unconventions when we stayed at the same hotel and talked existentialist politics late into the night. Together with Mick Farren and John Michell he was one of the few truly great men that I have met, and tonight my heart is heavy with the knowledge that I will not be meeting him again."

A Monstrous Reboot...

My latest Mysterious Universe article, which begins...

"If there is one thing that can be said with a high degree of accuracy when it comes to the matter of Cryptozoology, it’s that certain types of unknown creature are seen time and again, regardless of location. They are: (a) large anomalous cats; (b) oversized hounds with paranormal overtones; (c) huge, winged creatures; (d) lake-monsters; and (e) unidentified ape-like animals.  But why should such a small, and clearly delineated, body of archetypes dominate the field of Cryptozoology? Read on…

"Some time ago I did an interview with Jon Downes, of the Center for Fortean Zoology, on the matter of this very question. Jon related to me an utterly fascinating theory that he and the CFZ’s Richard Freeman have developed. Since, in my view at least, Jon’s words are of profound importance, I’m going to turn matters over to him."

Britain's Big Cats and Princess Diana

Some of you may have seen this breaking story: a new and highly controversial claim to the effect that elements of the British Army were somehow involved in the death (or as the claim suggests, the murder) of Princess Diana, in 1997.

I know nothing about this, aside from what the press is saying. And as this new story - from the UK's Daily Mail newspaper - shows, the claim is steeped in major controversy.

What I do know, however, is that there really was a link between the secret world of the British Army and Princess Diana. It had nothing to do with her death, however, but everything to do with the so-called, ABCs, or Alien Big Cats, that roam the U.K.

I tell the story in my recently published book, Monster Files. The chapter in question details the work of a small, elite group in British Army Intelligence that was watching Diana's every move in the late 1980s, amid fears that she might be kidnapped or assassinated by hostile forces.

While keeping Diana under surveillance during one, particular, late-night visit the princess made to an old village in the county of Devon, the Army team caught sight of something amazing prowling around. It was nothing less than a large, black cat, around the size of a mountain lion.

Since the ABC was seen very close to the property in which Diana was staying, the military unit was placed in a deep quandary: should they shoot the cat and alert the entire village (and, quite probably, and quickly, the media too) as to what was going down? Or should they just hope that the huge, black creature finally made its way out of the village and onto the wild countryside and moors of Devon? They chose the latter.

As for the story itself, it was provided to Jon Downes, of the Center for Fortean Zoology, who, in turn, provided it to me, years ago, after Jon personally spoke with one of the soldiers involved. It's important to note that Jon's source proved to be highly credible, since he correctly named at least one of Diana's lovers, long before the relationship became public knowledge.

It may well prove to be the case that the current controversy surrounding Diana and the British Army will implode on itself and vanish into obscurity.

But even if that does happen, it doesn't rule out the fact that there really was a British Army unit watching Diana's every move back in the latter part of the '80s. And, it was a unit that - in a very curious and roundabout fashion - became embroiled in the controversy surrounding Britain's notoriously famous ABCs.

Terror of the Tokoloshe

If you watched Josh Gates' show, Destination Truth, you may remember the episode in which he headed off in hot-pursuit of the Tokoloshe. If you didn't see it, well you may wonder what on earth this truly bizarre creature is (or is believed to be).

Well, the good news is that you can find all the answers in a brand new book published in the UK by Jon Downes' CFZ Press. The author is S.D. Tucker and the title is Terror of the Tokoloshe.

And here's the (very extensive!) blurb for the book, from Jon:

"Who, these days, still believes in goblins? Well surprisingly, millions of people do, right the way across the countries of southern Africa, where such creatures are known as tokoloshes. Little known in the West, these entities - hairy little men with gigantic magical penises and the ability to turn themselves invisible through the aid of an enchanted pebble - are a matter of everyday belief in nations such as South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Lesotho.

"In this, the first ever full-length book to be published upon the topic in the West, the consequences of this bizarre belief are explored in immense detail. It is not just that poltergeist-hauntings and UFO-sightings are blamed upon the activities of this nefarious little imp; so are everyday misfortunes such as a person's lack of success in love or business.

"Rather more outlandishly, tokoloshes are also held responsible for supposedly raping innocent women in their beds at night and then impregnating them with goblin-children; court cases have arisen in which people have been accused of murdering such unfortunate infants whilst under the genuine impression that they were evil tokoloshe-babies.

"But this is not all - tokoloshes have also been linked with witchcraft, zombies, paranormal stone-showers, murder, ancient Trickster-gods, sightings of unknown animals and outbreaks of mass hysteria.

"In no other book can you read about topics as diverse and strange as haunted toilets, killer one-eyed Cyclops-men made from porridge, severed penises being used as magical batteries and a deformed baby goat born with the head of Homer Simpson. All this, and the full uncensored tale of the man who claimed to have been molested in the night by a big gay hippo-monster

"Lavishly illustrated and all fully-referenced, this book is not only filled with dozens of unusual, amusing and hitherto-unexamined real-life stories, it also tries to place prevailing contemporary southern African belief in the tokoloshe into some kind of plausible social context. The tokoloshe may not be a genuinely real creature, but it certainly occupies a position of social reality in the minds of those who believe in it - with truly wide-ranging and often unexpected consequences."

The CFZ Yearbook: 2013

Jon Downes, of the Center for Fortean Zoology, has just published the latest edition of its annual title, The CFZ Yearbook.

As always, the 260-page book is packed with all manner of cryptozoological material. And here, from Jon, is a list of the contents:

More Cryptozoology: A listing of  certain animals unrecognised by science or of a paranormal nature by Ronan Coghlan
Snow Leopard: Spirit of the Mountains by Raheel Mughal
The man-eating plant of ye olde England by Glen Vaudrey
Possible sighting of unknown ape species, Tibet 2009 Jonathan Jacobs, plus in-depth analysis of the photograph
British Snake Catchers and Eccentrics by Richard Muirhead
The Amazing Animals of Pakistan by Raheel Mughal
The Mpisimbi: An undiscovered but now extinct King Cheetah strain in East Africa by Dr Karl Shuker
The ‘Lion’ Of Essex And Other British Big Cat Scares by Neil Arnold
Le Gevaudan: The Man behind the Monster by Paul Williams
2012: A Year in the Life of the Centre for Fortean Zoology: CFZ Australia 2012 Report by Rebecca Lang and Mike Williams
CFZ Canada 2012 by Robin Bellamy
Bigfoot Forums Annual Report
CFZ Annual Report by Jon Downes



It should be up on Amazon anytime now, and when it is, I'll let you know.

The Beast of Bolam: 10 Years On

Next month, January 2013, will mark the 10th anniversary of an on-site investigation of a very weird set of events that involved a series of Bigfoot-type encounters at Bolam Lake Country Park, in Northumberland, England.

And it ended with a spectacularly bizarre encounter on the part of the Center for Fortean Zoology's director, Jon Downes, who was there coordinating the quest for the beast.

But, as Jon noted at the time, and as he still confirms today, whatever the thing was, it clearly was not a flesh and blood animal - at least not in the way we understand the term.

So, why am I mentioning this now?

Well, not just because of the anniversary angle, but because my new book, Wildman! The Monstrous and Mysterious Saga of the "British Bigfoot" tells this story in full, and includes a number of seldom-addressed aspects of the story, as well as photos of the site of Jon's dramatic encounter.

For me, it's a case that definitively demonstrates why the British Bigfoot should be perceived as a creature of paranormal - rather than flesh and blood - origins, however we define what the paranormal might actually be!

The Lady of the Lake

There's a new article from me at Mysterious Universe on a subject that I don't usually delve into much (as it bores me rigid), and it's ghost-hunting.

But, in the case I refer to in the MU feature, I have made an exception, since the story in question had its origins pretty much on one of my old doorsteps.

And it all begins like this...

"It’s strange how, sometimes, profound and intriguing mysteries of the supernatural variety can turn up pretty much on your very own doorstep. A perfect, paranormal case in point: the spectral young woman of White Rock Lake, Dallas, Texas, where I lived from January 2004 until the summer of 2008. Indeed, my apartment practically backed on to the very shores of the lake itself, which made the mystery even more inviting to me.

"Built in 1911 as Dallas’s very first reservoir, White Rock Lake has nearly ten miles of shoreline, thick trees, a long and winding path for walkers and cyclists, and is home to more than thirty kinds of mammal, including possums, bobcats, and red foxes, more than fifty types of reptiles, and around two hundred kinds of bird. But, it’s the supernatural, rather than the natural, which occupies our very own study of what may lurk deep within the dark waters and shadows of White Rock Lake."

And here's my complete post.

PS: The photo above shows good mate Jon Downes - Director of the Center for Fortean Zoology - when we hung out at the lake for an afternoon in 2010.

The Journal of Cryptozoology

Dr. Karl Shuker delivers some excellent news:

"Less than nine months after officially announcing on ShukerNature its founding, I am delighted to announce that the inaugural volume of the Journal of Cryptozoology – currently the world's only peer-reviewed, scientific journal devoted to mystery animals – is now in print."

It certainly is, and you can find all the relevant information by clicking on this link.

And as the publisher of the Journal, Jon Downes, of the Center for Fortean Zoology, tells us:

"The Journal of Cryptozoology is published and funded by CFZ Press, which is owned by the Centre for Fortean Zoology. However, it is an entity completely separate from the CFZ and entirely independent of it. We have long been aware of the need for a peer-reviewed academic journal covering cryptozoology, and we feel that it is important that it is truly international in scope and independent of any pre-existing organisation or pressure group.

"We think that this is a very exciting new venture, and are immensely proud to be involved as its publishers. We are sad to see that other publishing ventures have folded for lack of funding, and so CFZ Publishing Group will guarantee to maintain funding of this project for at least the first ten volumes, regardless of sales, subscriber figures, or other outside factors."

http://forteanzoology.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-journal-of-cryptozoology-is-now-in.html

 

http://forteanzoology.blogspot.com/2012/11/volume-one-of-journal-of-cryptozoology.html

 

http://www.journalofcryptozoology.com

Peacock High-Strangeness

This is weird. Well, kind of...

In Wisconsin new reports have surfaced of sightings of peacocks and Bigfoot. So what? Well, this is not the first time peacocks and bizarre beasts have appeared in the same story.

In 2004, me and Jon Downes (pictured proudly posing below in the El Yunque Rain-Forest), of the British-based Center for Fortean Zoology, traveled to Puerto Rico with the SyFy Channel's Proof Positive show to film an episode on the Chupacabras. While we were there, Jon and I headed out to a farm high in the hills where the owner had lost an entire collection of peacocks to what he believed was the diabolical predator, the Chupacabras.

As the crew filmed, a familiar story was told to us of animals drained of blood; of vampire-style puncture wounds on the necks of the birds, and of an overwhelming paranoid fear that would pervade the entire area after darkness fell.

Moving on, in my 2008 book, There's Something in the Woods, I related the strange saga of a large, monkey-type creature seen crossing a field and a road next to the ancient Chartley Castle, Staffordshire, England in 1986. Yep, that's the castle:

The same field was the site of a Crop Circle I investigated in 2006 - inside of which were a number of peacock feathers (see the photo at the top of this post).

And here's the field and the Crop Circle:

Then, there are the following words of good mate Neil Arnold that appear in his Shadows in the Sky book. There's no attendant beast in this case, but it's still a weird peacock-themed saga:

"One of the most baffling ghost bird stories appeared on the BBC website in November 2006 under the heading, ‘Ghost peacock baffles rescuers’, after motorists in East Sussex had claimed to have run over a bird that left no trace. The mystery began when a female witness, driving on the A267 near Five Ashes, called wildlife rescuers to say she’d hit a peacock. The following day a lorry driver also claimed to have run over the bird. Rescue co-ordinator Trevor Weeks, examined the site of the alleged road kill but could find no trace of the bird. The arches of the lorry were examined but no sign of blood or feathers could be found..."

So what does all this mean? Damned if I know! If only John Keel or Charles Fort were still around to help us figure it out...





God Save The CFZ

Jon Downes and the Centre for Fortean Zoology take on the Sex Pistols' God Save the Queen. Be afraid; be very afraid...

Chasing the Chupacabra

In a new article at Mysterious Universe, I begin...

"As someone who is an author, I am often asked to write reviews of other people’s books. The vast majority of all the books I review are focused upon the adventures and exploits of other people. Island of Paradise by Jonathan Downes, however, is very different, in the sense that it’s a book in which I play a central role. Nevertheless, I hope this has not influenced my opinion of the book! It’s a highly entertaining, warts and all study of what occurs during the course of an expedition of the Chupacabra kind…"

And if you want to learn more about my and Jonny's adventures on Puerto Rico in search of the alleged blood-sucking beast, read on right here!