A Bunch of New Articles From Me

1. Mistaking a regular animal for something weird.

2.  The creepiest creature of the woods.

3. The Thylacine: not as extinct as you might think.

4. The Chupacabra: how far back do the stories go?

5. The "blood-sucking" aspect of the Chupacabra controversy.

6. UFOs: A Russian story.

7. Are lake monsters actually giant eels?

8. A monstrous 50th anniversary on the horizon.

9. A "leaked' document and a disturbing agenda.

10. The growing phenomenon of surveillance by drones.

A Bipedal Wolf in the United States?

There's a very controversial, new Mysterious Universe article from me. It begins...

"As readers of Mysterious Universe will know, one of the things that particularly fascinates me is the matter of werewolves. Not in mythology. Not in folklore. And not in the movies. We’re talking about werewolves in…reality. Of course, most people scoff at such a fantastic scenario. But, the fact is that there is an undeniably huge body of data on record that suggests these things do exist. Check out the excellent, published work of Linda Godfrey and you’ll see what I mean.

"Now, when I talk about werewolves, I’m most definitely not referring to people who literally shape-shift from human to wolf, sprout hair and fangs, and then change back again. I’m talking about creatures that appear to be wolves of some kind, but that have the ability to walk on their back legs – as in upright form, and not unlike us. Could it really be the case that an unrecognized type of bipedal wolf calls the United States its home?"

The Tasmanian Tiger: New Book

If the saga of the Tasmanian Tiger (a.k.a. the Thylacine), and the theory that it still exists, fascinates you, then you won't want to miss this new book: The Tasmanian Tiger: Extinct or Extant?

With a foreword from Dr. Karl Shuker, and edited by Rebecca Lang, it's a book not to be missed.

And here's the publisher's info on the book:

"Does the Tasmanian Tiger still roam the island state, parts of the Australian mainland, and the northern land mass of Irian Jaya-Papua New Guinea? Despite being hunted to extinction in the early part of the 20th century, the Tasmanian Tiger continues to stalk the imaginations of people the world over. What's more, hundreds of reports of the striped dog-like marsupial with the fearsome gaping jaw are made each year in Australia. In The Tasmanian Tiger: Extinct or Extant?, biologists, geneticists, naturalists, and academics explore the evidence for and against the continuing existence of Thylacinus cynocephalus."

Animals & Men Issue 51

Just a couple of days ago, I received a copy of the new issue (No. 51) of the Center for Fortean Zoology's in-house magazine Animals & Men. As always it's an excellent issue, and professionally published, with a full-color, glossy, card cover and dozens of interior, color photos too.

Highlights of the new issue (which runs to 50 pages) include:

1. A round-up of cryptozoological news;
2. An article on the recent CFZ expedition to Tasmania, in search of surviving Thylacines;
3. A feature on the latest CFZ quest to find the Orang Pendek of Sumatra;
4. A review of the CFZ's latest Weird Weekend conference;
5. Various book reviews;
6. And Corinna Downes' Watcher of the Skies column.

If all of that has got you interested in subscribing to the magazine, contact the editor (and CFZ head-honcho) Jon Downes right here.

In Search of the Thylacine

 

There's a new post from me at Mysterious Universe on the always controversial issue of whether or not the thylacine still lives. It starts  like this...

"From Australia’s Courier Mail newspaper… 'An international team of naturalists from the Centre for Fortean Zoology has arrived in Tasmania for the first in a series of well-resourced and professional expeditions into Tasmania’s wilderness to hunt for evidence of the Tasmanian tiger. Although the animal was officially declared extinct in the 1980s, reports of thylacine sightings are still common and expedition leader Mike Williams from NSW has high hopes that they can find something. 'The problem with a lot of the sightings from members of the public is that they’re generally caught by surprise, and their photos are taken on things like mobile phones and aren’t very good,’ he said.

"If the Center for Fortean Zoology’s expedition does indeed uncover evidence that the thylacine really is still with us (albeit with us in an incredibly stealthy fashion!), it would be amazing news. After all, not only is the creature widely believed to have become extinct way back in the 1930s, but it was a truly weird-looking animal, too. On top of that, I’m pretty sure that such a discovery would prove to be a major step in encouraging quests to uncover additional, presumed-extinct beasts, too, as well as the definitive unknowns, such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster."