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Thursday, December 31, 2015


While my internet was out I made a colorized version of the original picture.

Bunyip - The bunyip, or kianpraty, is a large mythical creature from Aboriginal mythology, said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes. The origin of the word bunyip has been traced to the Wemba-Wemba or Wergaia language of Aboriginal people of South-Eastern Australia. However, the bunyip appears to have formed part of traditional Aboriginal beliefs and stories throughout Australia, although its name varied according to tribal nomenclature. In his 2001 book, writer Robert Holden identified at least nine regional variations for the creature known as the bunyip across Aboriginal Australia. Various written accounts of bunyips were made by Europeans in the early and mid-19th century, as settlement spread across the country.

The word bunyip is usually translated by Aboriginal Australians today as "devil" or "evil spirit". However, this translation may not accurately represent the role of the bunyip in Aboriginal mythology or its possible origins before written accounts were made. Some modern sources allude to a linguistic connection between the bunyip and Bunjil, "a mythic 'Great Man' who made the mountains and rivers and man and all the animals." The word bunyip may not have appeared in print in English until the mid-1840s.

By the 1850s, bunyip had also become a "synonym for impostor, pretender, humbug and the like" in the broader Australian community. The term bunyip aristocracy was first coined in 1853 to describe Australians aspiring to be aristocrats. In the early 1990s, it was famously used by Prime Minister Paul Keating to describe members of the conservative Liberal Party of Australia opposition.

The word bunyip can still be found in a number of Australian contexts, including place names such as the Bunyip River (which flows into Westernport Bay in southern Victoria) and the town of Bunyip, Victoria.


Descriptions of bunyips vary widely. George French Angus may have collected a description of a bunyip in his account of a "water spirit" from the Moorundi people of the Murray River before 1847, stating it is "much dreaded by them… It inhabits the Murray; but…they have some difficulty describing it. Its most usual form…is said to be that of an enormous starfish." Robert Brough Smyth's Aborigines of Victoria of 1878 devoted ten pages to the bunyip, but concluded "in truth little is known among the blacks respecting its form, covering or habits; they appear to have been in such dread of it as to have been unable to take note of its characteristics." However, common features in many 19th-century newspaper accounts include a dog-like face, dark fur, a horse-like tail, flippers, and walrus-like tusks or horns or a duck-like bill.

The Challicum bunyip, an outline image of a bunyip carved by Aborigines into the bank of Fiery Creek, near Ararat, Victoria, was first recorded by The Australasian newspaper in 1851. According to the report, the bunyip had been speared after killing an Aboriginal man. Antiquarian Reynell Johns claimed that until the mid-1850s, Aboriginal people made a "habit of visiting the place annually and retracing the outlines of the figure [of the bunyip] which is about 11 paces long and 4 paces in extreme breadth." The outline image no longer exists.

Non-Aboriginal Australians have made various attempts to understand and explain the origins of the bunyip as a physical entity over the past 150 years.

Writing in 1933, Charles Fenner suggested that it was likely that the "actual origin of the bunyip myth lies in the fact that from time to time seals have made their way up the ... Murray and Darling (Rivers)". He provided examples of seals found as far inland as Overland Corner, Loxton, and Conargo and reminded readers that "the smooth fur, prominent 'apricot' eyes and the bellowing cry are characteristic of the seal."

Another suggestion is that the bunyip may be a cultural memory of extinct Australian marsupials such as the Diprotodon, Zygomaturus, Nototherium or Palorchestes. This connection was first formally made by Dr George Bennett of the Australian Museum in 1871, but in the early 1990s, palaeontologist Pat Vickers-Rich and geologist Neil Archbold also cautiously suggested that Aboriginal legends "perhaps had stemmed from an acquaintance with prehistoric bones or even living prehistoric animals themselves ... When confronted with the remains of some of the now extinct Australian marsupials, Aborigines would often identify them as the bunyip." They also note that "legends about the mihirung paringmal of western Victorian Aborigines …may allude to the …extinct giant birds the Dromornithidae."

Another connection to the bunyip is the shy Australasian bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus). During the breeding season, the male call of this marsh-dwelling bird is a "low pitched boom"; hence, it is occasionally called the "bunyip bird".
 

During the early settlement of Australia by Europeans, the notion that the bunyip was an actual unknown animal that awaited discovery became common. Early European settlers, unfamiliar with the sights and sounds of the island continent's peculiar fauna, regarded the bunyip as one more strange Australian animal and sometimes attributed unfamiliar animal calls or cries to it. It has also been suggested that 19th-century bunyip lore was reinforced by imported European memories, such as that of the Irish Púca.(Puca - spirit/ghost)
 
A large number of bunyip sightings occurred during the 1840s and 1850s, particularly in the southeastern colonies of Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia, as European settlers extended their reach. The following is not an exhaustive list of accounts:
 

Hume find of 1818

One of the earliest accounts relating to a large unknown freshwater animal was in 1818, when Hamilton Hume and James Meehan found some large bones at Lake Bathurst in New South Wales. They did not call the animal a bunyip, but described the remains indicating the creature as very much like a hippopotamus or manatee. The Philosophical Society of Australasia later offered to reimburse Hume for any costs incurred in recovering a specimen of the unknown animal, but for various reasons, Hume did not return to the lake.
 

Wellington Caves fossils, 1830

More significant was the discovery of fossilised bones of "some quadruped much larger than the ox or buffalo in the Wellington Caves in mid-1830 by bushman George Rankin and later by Thomas Mitchell. Sydney's Reverend John Dunmore Lang announced the find as "convincing proof of the deluge". However, it was British anatomist Sir Richard Owen who identified the fossils as the gigantic marsupials Nototherium and Diprotodon. At the same time, some settlers observed "all natives throughout these... districts have a tradition (of) a very large animal having at one time existed in the large creeks and rivers and by many it is said that such animals now exist."
 

First written use of the word bunyip, 1845

In July 1845, The Geelong Advertiser announced the discovery of fossils found near Geelong, under the headline "Wonderful Discovery of a new Animal". This was a continuation of a story on 'fossil remains' from the previous issue. The newspaper continued, "On the bone being shown to an intelligent black (sic), he at once recognised it as belonging to the bunyip, which he declared he had seen. On being requested to make a drawing of it, he did so without hesitation." The account noted a story of an Aboriginal woman being killed by a bunyip and the "most direct evidence of all" – that of a man named Mumbowran "who showed several deep wounds on his breast made by the claws of the animal". The account provided this description of the creature:

"The Bunyip, then, is represented as uniting the characteristics of a bird and of an alligator. It has a head resembling an emu, with a long bill, at the extremity of which is a transverse projection on each side, with serrated edges like the bone of the stingray. Its body and legs partake of the nature of the alligator. The hind legs are remarkably thick and strong, and the fore legs are much longer, but still of great strength. The extremities are furnished with long claws, but the blacks say its usual method of killing its prey is by hugging it to death. When in the water it swims like a frog, and when on shore it walks on its hind legs with its head erect, in which position it measures twelve or thirteen feet in height."

Shortly after this account appeared, it was repeated in other Australian newspapers. However, it appears to be the first use of the word bunyip in a written publication.
 

The Australian Museum's bunyip of 1847

In January 1846, a peculiar skull was taken from the banks of Murrumbidgee River near Balranald, New South Wales. Initial reports suggested that it was the skull of something unknown to science. The squatter who found it remarked, "all the natives to whom it was shown called [it] a bunyip". By July 1847, several experts, including W.S. Macleay and Professor Owen, had identified the skull as the deformed foetal skull of a foal or calf. At the same time, however, the so-called bunyip skull was put on display in the Australian Museum (Sydney) for two days. Visitors flocked to see it, and The Sydney Morning Herald said that it prompted many people to speak out about their "bunyip sightings". Reports of this discovery used the phrase 'Kine Pratie' as well as Bunyip and explorer William Hovell, who examined the skull, also called it a 'katen-pai'.

In March of that year 'a bunyip or an immense Platibus' (Platypus) was sighted 'sunning himself on the placid bosom of the Yarra, just opposite the Custom House' in Melbourne. 'Immediately a crowd gathered' and three men set off by boat 'to secure the stranger' who 'disappeared' when they were 'about a yard from him'.
 

William Buckley's account of bunyips, 1852

Another early written account is attributed to escaped convict William Buckley in his 1852 biography of thirty years living with the Wathaurong people. His 1852 account records "in... Lake Moodewarri [now Lake Modewarre] as well as in most of the others inland...is a...very extraordinary amphibious animal, which the natives call Bunyip." Buckley's account suggests he saw such a creature on several occasions. He adds, "I could never see any part, except the back, which appeared to be covered with feathers of a dusky grey colour. It seemed to be about the size of a full grown calf... I could never learn from any of the natives that they had seen either the head or tail." Buckley also claimed the creature was common in the Barwon River and cites an example he heard of an Aboriginal woman being killed by one. He emphasized the bunyip was believed to have supernatural powers.


- Source: wikipedia -


While there appears to be a pretty good historical record of sightings. I would assume this was either a now known animal that was not know to the people seeing it at the time or it was something that is now extinct.

I was able to find possible reports of a possible bunyip sighting in 1978 or 79. It stated that a plesiosaurus type creature was seen swimming in the river near Sydney. It appears the idea of the bunyip is embraced very well in Eastern Australia. The bunyip has appeared on stamps and various other artwork pieces. It is also an attraction at a place called Murray Bridge.

The Murray Bridge Bunyip 
The Murray Bridge Bunyip was built by Dennis Newell and launched in 1972. For 20 cents the bunyip emerged from below the water a gave a very loud roar. The Bunyip was given a baby about 10 years after the launch. The sound box has had many problems during its time... at one stage vandals somehow worked out how to jam it so it would continue to roar - often through all hours of the night.
Then the Bunyip and baby were also vandalized and part was broken off. A quieter, more friendly looking bunyip was built and his cave was revamped in 2000. The price rose to $1 for three appearances. The bunyip receives in excess of 20,000 visitors per year.
The Murray Bridge Bunyip can be found lurking in his cave today on the banks of the Murray River at Sturt Reserve Murray Bridge.


(source - JanesoceaniaMurraybridge.sa.gov.au )

 
Thanks
~Tom~


This post by Thomas Marcum, Thomas is the founder/leader of the cryptozoology and paranormal research organization known as The Crypto Crew. Over 20 years experience with research and investigation of unexplained activity, working with video and websites. A trained wild land firefighter and a published photographer, and poet



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Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Mock up photo using still frame from video below.
I ran across the follow youtube video by tcsjrbigfoot. In it he tells about some people who saw a Bigfoot near some power lines.
Here is the video.


Thanks to tcsjrbigfoot (Tim Stover) for the very cool report.


Over the years I have taken in a few reports of Bigfoot being near power lines. One report was from Massachusetts of a Bigfoot looking through a bag of trash near some power lines. Another was of unknown screams near some power lines. I have read many reports of Bigfoot near power lines.

Some researchers theorize that Bigfoot uses power line right of ways much like we use highways. That Bigfoot use them to travel from one point to another. I'm not 100 percent sold on this theory but it could be possible that Bigfoot do use them sometimes or in certain areas. Of course, I assume most of the sightings near power lines are just a coincident. 



Thanks
~Tom~

This post by Thomas Marcum, Thomas is the founder/leader of the cryptozoology and paranormal research organization known as The Crypto Crew. Over 20 years experience with research and investigation of unexplained activity, working with video and websites. A trained wild land firefighter and a published photographer, and poet.



This post sponsored in part by
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Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Matt Moneymaker and TCC Team Member Jason Morse
Back in April, I reported on how The Crypto Crew was providing information to the Finding Bigfoot crew for their upcoming show in New Hampshire. We now have an air date for that show. If you would like to review the post from back in April and view the pictures, then please click here.

Jason Morse and one of our witnesses was able to attend the town hall meeting and was invited back the next day. At this point we do not know how much the show will feature our team or our reports, we may not be in it at all. We have no control over the editing of the show or it's contents. We may be featured or we may not. But I feel we provided a lot of good information via email and via Jason and the witness. Now we just have to wait and see if any or how much of the information made it on the final cut of the show. In any case, we were glad to have the opportunity and everyone treated us very well.

The air date for the Finding Bigfoot New Hampshire show is set for January 17th.

Here is a little more information about the Finding Bigfoot crew being in New Hampshire. The town hall meeting lasted a reportedly 4 hours. The Finding Bigfoot crew heard several compelling reports. The Finding Bigfoot crew was in New Hampshire from April 7th - 15th.

The new season of Finding Bigfoot starts January 3rd, and the New Hampshire show on the 17th. I hope you will watch it and see if you can find us in the show.

This will be the 9th season of Finding Bigfoot! The season will feature shows in Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon and Georgia, just to name a few.



Thanks
~Tom~

This post by Thomas Marcum, Thomas is the founder/leader of the cryptozoology and paranormal research organization known as The Crypto Crew. Over 20 years experience with research and investigation of unexplained activity, working with video and websites. A trained wild land firefighter and a published photographer, and poet.



This post sponsored in part by
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Monday, December 28, 2015


Brosno Dragon - The Brosno Dragon, also known as Brosnya (Russian: Бросня), is the name given to a lake monster which is said to inhabit Lake Brosno, near Andreapol in West Russia. It is described as resembling a dragon or dinosaur, and is the subject of a number of regional legends, some which are said to date back to the 13th century.

Many people treat the existence of Brosnya skeptically and still say that the creature may be a mutant beaver or a giant pike of 100–150 years. Others conjecture that groups of wild boars and elks cross the lake from time to time.

There are some more scientific hypotheses concerning Brosnya. One of them is a gas version saying that when hydrogen sulfide goes up from the lake bottom it makes water boil up; this boiling in its turn resembles a dragon head. But the amount of hydrogen sulfide must be considerable to produce this effect. Other version says that there is a volcano in Lake Brosno that makes ejections on the water surface from time to time. It is well known that there are several fractures at the bottom of the lake, the depth and the direction of the fractures cannot be defined. It is not ruled out that the volcano crater is inside of one of the fractures. This explains why the volcano, if it actually exists, has not been discovered yet. (limnic eruption -
A limnic eruption, also referred to as a lake overturn, is a rare type of natural disaster in which dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2) suddenly erupts from deep lake water, suffocating wildlife, livestock and humans.)
 
Fishermen say that the underwater world of Lake Brosno has a structure of several levels. From time to time, burbots and yellow perch can be found in the lake. For example, herring can be found in a lake in Peno District in the Tver Region. Some consider it strange that sea fish may live in the lake at all. Smelt shoals can be found in Lake Brosno as well. The phenomenon of Brosnya can be explained from the physical point of view: huge smelt shoals are reflected on the water surface through refraction of light and produces the effect of a huge reptile head. Physicists say that any mirage appears in hot weather. Indeed, witnesses say that they came across Brosnya in summer. However, the origin of the rumors of this strange monster remain a mystery.
 

Legends
Rumors of a strange, giant creature living in Lake Brosno have existed for several centuries. One legend says that the lake monster scared to death the Tatar-Mongol army that headed for Novgorod in the 13th century. Batu Khan stopped the troops on the sides of Lake Brosno to rest. Horses were allowed to drink water from the lake. However, when the horses ventured down to the lake, a huge roaring creature emerged from the water and started devouring horses and soldiers. The Batu-khan troops were so terrified that they turned back, and Novgorod was saved. Old legends describe an "enormous mouth" devouring fishermen. Chronicles mention a "sand mountain" that appeared on the lake surface from time to time. According to another legend, some Varangians wanted to hide stolen treasure in the lake. When they approached the small island, a dragon came to the surface from the lake and swallowed the island up.

It was rumored in the 18th and 19th centuries that the giant creature emerged on the lake surface in the evening, but immediately submerged when people approached. It is said that during World War II the beast swallowed up a German airplane. Today, there are lots of witnesses who say they chanced to see Brosnya walking in the water. Locals say that it turns boats upside-down and has to do with disappearance of people.


- Source: wikipedia -


This is very a similar story to the Loch Ness Monster and to Mokele-mbembe, but with the Mokele Mbembe we are talking about it being in the Congo. The Congo is largely unexplored and very difficult to traverse.


So do you think the Brosno Dragon is a real creature? if so , what do you think it could be?

Thanks
~Tom~


This post by Thomas Marcum, Thomas is the founder/leader of the cryptozoology and paranormal research organization known as The Crypto Crew. Over 20 years experience with research and investigation of unexplained activity, working with video and websites. A trained wild land firefighter and a published photographer, and poet



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Sunday, December 27, 2015


You may have seen it being posted on Facebook or other social media sites. There is a new pizza in town and it's from Sasquatch pizza company. Recently the new pizzas started showing up in Wal-mart stores across the United States. Being a Bigfoot researcher and a lover of pizza, I could not wait to try this pizza out.

Sasquatch Pizza
I had my wife check at our local Wal-mart and sure enough they had these pizzas in their coolers. The pizza is available in 4 different flavors. The 4 flavors are: Meat Lovers, Supreme, Cheese Lovers, 3x Pepperoni. The pizza weighs in at over 3 pounds according to the box and advertisements. We opted to go for the Supreme version of the Sasquatch Pizza. The retail price was $9.99.

We always open our Christmas gifts on Christmas eve. We put the Sasquatch Pizza in the oven while we opened gifts. I was trying my best to get everyone to hurry as I wanted to eat the pizza while it was hot and fresh. Once all the gift opening was out of the way, all three of us dug into the pizza. There was enough pizza for all of us. I made sure to get the rest of the families thoughts on the Sasquatch pizza. We all agreed that it was very good and one of the best store bought pizza out there.

While the price may be a slight turn off for some people, the pizza box itself is clever and offers some entertainment. It also comes with a punch out Bigfoot on the back of the box. There is even a little more entertainment on their website (click here) as there is a map for you to plot where you saw the Sasquatch Pizza. There is also a Facebook page - Sasquatch Pizza Co - Make sure to give them a "Like". On the Facebook page there is a couple of short videos and other stuff, so check it out.

The Sasquatch Pizza brought back fond memories of good old days, when Pizza Hut served the Bigfoot Pizza. Many nights after work I would take my workers to Pizza Hut and we would order a Bigfoot Pizza. Most of the time we finished it off, other nights when there was some left, one of us would take it home. While the Sasquatch Pizza is not as big as Pizza Hut's Bigfoot Pizza, it is nice to see our hairy friend once again gracing a pizza box.

I really wish Pizza Hut would bring back the Bigfoot pizza but until then it's nice to have a Sasquatch pizza. Someone start a petition to get Pizza Hut to bring back the Bigfoot Pizza.

Check out this old Bigfoot Pizza Commercial that takes a swipe at Little Caesars.


And no, your eyes are not playing tricks on you, that is Haley Joel Osment in the pizza commercial,  who later played in The Jeff Foxworthy Show and The Six Sense just to name a few.

Pizza and Bigfoot ...what more could a person ask for.



Thanks
~Tom~


This post by Thomas Marcum, Thomas is the founder/leader of the cryptozoology and paranormal research organization known as The Crypto Crew. Over 20 years experience with research and investigation of unexplained activity, working with video and websites. A trained wild land firefighter and a published photographer, and poet




This post sponsored in part by
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Scape Ore Swamp
Bishopville Lizard Man - The Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp (also known as the Lizard Man of Lee County) is a reptilian humanoid cryptid which is said to inhabit areas of swampland in and around Lee County, South Carolina along with the sewers and abandoned subways in towns near the swamp.

The Lizard Man is described as being 7 feet (2.1 m) tall, bipedal, and well built, covered in dark hair with scaly lizard like skin on hands, feet and face. It is said to have three toes on each foot and three fingers on each arm, which witnesses say measure 6 feet in length and 2 feet in width. The creature has an incredible degree of strength, more than capable of ripping into a car. It might have a tail with six spikes .

The first reported sighting of the creature was made by Christopher Davis, a 17 year old local, who said he encountered the creature while driving home from work at 2 AM on June 29, 1988. According to his account, Davis stopped on a road bordering Scape Ore Swamp in order to change a tire which had blown out. When he was finishing up he reported having heard a thumping noise from behind him and having turned around to see the creature running towards him

Davis said the creature tried to grab at the car and then jumped on its roof as he tried to escape, clinging on to it as Davis swerved from side to side in an effort to throw it off. After he returned home, Davis' side-view-mirror was found to be badly damaged, and scratch marks were found on the car's roof, though there was no other physical evidence of his encounter.

"I looked back and saw something running across the field towards me. It was about 25 yards away and I saw red eyes glowing. I ran into the car and as I locked it, the thing grabbed the door handle. I could see him from the neck down – the three big fingers, long black nails and green rough skin. It was strong and angry. I looked in my mirror and saw a blur of green running. I could see his toes and then he jumped on the roof of my car. I thought I heard a grunt and then I could see his fingers through the front windshield, where they curled around on the roof. I sped up and swerved to shake the creature off."

In the month that followed the Davis sighting there were several further reports of a large lizard like creature, and of unusual scratches and bite marks found on cars parked close to the swamp. Most of these are said to have occurred within a 3 mile (5 km) radius of the swamps of Bishopville.

At the time, local law enforcement officials reacted to reports of the Lizard Man with a mixture of concern and skepticism, stating that a sufficient number of sightings had been made by apparently reliable people for them to believe that something tangible was being seen, but also that it was more likely to be a bear than a Lizard Man.

Two weeks after the Davis sighting the sheriff's department made several plaster casts of what appeared to be three-toed footprints – measuring some 14 inches (36 cm) in length – but decided against sending them on to the FBI for further analysis after biologists advised them that they were unclassifiable. According to South Carolina Marine Resources Department spokesperson Johnny Evans the tracks neither matched, nor could be mistaken for, the footprints of any recorded animal. Evans also dismissed the possibility that they could have been made by some form of mutated creature.

The sightings attracted tourists interested in seeing the creature and hunters interested in tracking it, and nearby radio station WCOS offered a $1 million reward to anybody who could capture the creature alive. However, reports of the creature began to decline at the end of the summer with the last credible sighting of the year being reported in July.

On August 5 Kenneth Orr, an airman stationed at Shaw Air Force Base, filed a report with the police saying that he had encountered the Lizard Man on highway 15, and that he had shot and wounded it. He presented several scales and a small quantity of blood as evidence. Orr recanted this account two days later when he was arraigned for unlawfully carrying a pistol, and the misdemeanor offense of filing a false police report. According to Orr, he had invented the sighting in order to keep stories about the Lizard Man in circulation.



- Source: wikipedia -


Here is a old newspaper clipping of Mr. Davis

Chris Davis was shot to death in July of 2009 during what police initially said was a home invasion but later revealed it was a drug related crime.

(source - copy cat effect blog )



Thanks
~Tom~


This post by Thomas Marcum, Thomas is the founder/leader of the cryptozoology and paranormal research organization known as The Crypto Crew. Over 20 years experience with research and investigation of unexplained activity, working with video and websites. A trained wild land firefighter and a published photographer, and poet



This post sponsored in part by
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Saturday, December 26, 2015


Bergman's Bear - The Bergman's bear (Ursus arctos piscator) is an alleged and probably extinct subspecies of the brown bear that lived in the Kamchatka Peninsula. The bear was identified and named by Swedish zoologist Sten Bergman in 1920.

Bergman determined that the bear was a separate subspecies after examining a hide (which had fur very different from other local bears) and series of footprints, measuring 14.5 x 10 inches, which he judged to be much larger than other bears on Kamchatka.

Some think that the Cold War may have helped the population to recover because the Soviet Military blocked access to the area in that time.

Interest in the bear was revitalized in the 1960s. Hunter Rodion Sivolobov reported claims by Kamchatka natives of an unusually large bear they called either the Irkuiem (roughly meaning "trousers pulled down" due to the appearance of the bear's hind legs), or the "God bear" due to its large size.

Based on Sivobolov's description, biologist N.K. Vereshchagin suggested that the God bear might be a relic Arctodus simus, a massive extinct bear. This idea was coolly received by the scientific community; Arctodus has never been found outside the Americas, and more importantly, it belonged to the Tremarctinae which differ considerably in appearance from the "typical" bears (Ursinae). In particular, Arctodus had relatively long and slender legs which does not agree with the "trousers pulled down" moniker.




- Source: wikipedia -


Do you think that any of these giant bears are around today?


Thanks
~Tom~


This post by Thomas Marcum, Thomas is the founder/leader of the cryptozoology and paranormal research organization known as The Crypto Crew. Over 20 years experience with research and investigation of unexplained activity, working with video and websites. A trained wild land firefighter and a published photographer, and poet



This post sponsored in part by
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Friday, December 25, 2015


Beast of Gevaudan - The Beast of Gévaudan (French: La Bête du Gévaudan; IPA: [la bɛːt dy ʒevodɑ̃], Occitan: La Bèstia de Gavaudan) is the historical name associated with the man-eating wolf-like animals which terrorized the former province of Gévaudan (modern day département of Lozère and part of Haute-Loire), in the Margeride Mountains in south-central France between 1764 and 1770. The attacks, which covered an area stretching 90 by 80 kilometres (56 by 50 mi), were said to have been committed by beasts that had formidable teeth and immense tails according to contemporary eye-witnesses. Witnesses also saw the beast was wounded at several occasions without dying. Those injuries include shots at point blank range. Victims were often killed by having their throats torn out. The French government used a considerable amount of manpower and money to hunt the animals; including the resources of several nobles, the army, civilians, and a number of royal huntsmen.

The number of victims differs according to sources. In 1987, one study estimated there had been 210 attacks; resulting in 113 deaths and 49 injuries; 98 of the victims killed were partly eaten. However other sources claim it killed between 60 to 100 adults and children, as well as injuring more than 30.
Descriptions of the time vary, but generally the beast was said to look like a wolf but about as big as a cow. It had a large dog-like head with small straight ears, a wide chest, and a large mouth which exposed very large teeth, and was in some reports said to have a muzzle like that of a pig or calf. The claws on its feet were as sharp as razors. The beast's fur was said to be red in colour but its back was streaked with black. It was also said to have quite an unpleasant odour.
An 18th-century print showing a woman defending herself from the Beast of Gévaudan.
Beginnings

The Beast of Gévaudan carried out its first recorded attack in the early summer of 1764. A young woman, who was tending cattle in the Mercoire forest near Langogne in the eastern part of Gévaudan, saw the beast come at her. However the bulls in the herd charged the beast keeping it at bay, they then drove it off after it attacked a second time. Shortly afterwards the first official victim of the beast was recorded; 40-year-old Emmet Mardén was killed near the village of Les Hubacs near the town of Langogne.

Over the later months of 1764, more attacks were reported throughout the region. Very soon terror had gripped the populace because the beast was repeatedly preying on lone men, women and children as they tended livestock in the forests around Gévaudan. Reports note that the beast seemed to only target the victim's head or neck regions; the bites were not to the arms and legs - the usual body parts favoured by known predators such as wolves - making the woundings unusual.

By late December 1764 rumours had begun circulating that there may be a pair of beasts behind the killings. This was because there had been such a high number of attacks in such a short space of time, many had appeared to have been recorded and reported at the same time. Some contemporary accounts suggest the creature had been seen with another such animal, while others thought the beast was with its young.

On 12 January, 1765, Jacques Portefaix and seven friends were attacked by the Beast. After several attacks, they drove it away by staying grouped together. The encounter eventually came to the attention of Louis XV who awarded 300 livres to Portefaix and another 350 livres to be shared among his companions. The king also directed that Portefaix be educated at the state's expense. He then decreed that the French state would help find and kill the beast.

Three weeks later Louis XV sent two professional wolf-hunters, Jean Charles Marc Antoine Vaumesle d'Enneval and his son Jean-François, to Gévaudan. They arrived in Clermont-Ferrand on 17 February, 1765, bringing with them eight bloodhounds which had been trained in wolf-hunting. Over the next four months the pair hunted for Eurasian wolves believing them to be the beast. However as the attacks continued, they were replaced in June 1765 by François Antoine (also wrongly named Antoine de Beauterne), the king's harquebus bearer and Lieutenant of the Hunt who arrived in Le Malzieu on June 22.

By 21 September, 1767, Antoine had killed his third large grey wolf measuring 80 cm (31 in) high, 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in) long, and weighing 60 kilograms (130 lb). The wolf, which was named Le Loup de Chazes after the nearby Abbaye des Chazes, was said to have been quite large for a wolf. Antoine officially stated: "We declare by the present report signed from our hand, we never saw a big wolf that could be compared to this one. Which is why we estimate this could be the fearsome beast that caused so much damage." The animal was further identified as the culprit by attack survivors who recognised the scars on its body inflicted by victims defending themselves. The wolf was stuffed and sent to Versailles where Antoine was received as a hero, receiving a large sum of money as well as titles and awards.

However on 2 December, 1769, another beast severely injured two men. A dozen more deaths are reported to have followed attacks by the la Besseyre Saint Mary
 

Final attacks

The killing of the creature that eventually marked the end of the attacks is credited to a local hunter named Jean Chastel. He is said to have slain the beast at the Sogne d'Auvers on June 19, 1770. But controversy surrounds Chastel's account. Family tradition claimed that, when part of a large hunting party, he sat down to read the Bible and pray. During one of the prayers the creature came into sight, staring at Chastel, who finished his prayer before shooting the beast. This would have been aberrant behaviour for the beast, as it would usually attack on sight. Some believe this is proof Chastel participated with the beast, or even that he had trained it. However, the story of the prayer may simply have been invented out of religious or romantic motives. Writers later introduced the idea that Chastel shot the creature with a blessed silver bullet of his own manufacture and upon being opened, the animal's stomach was shown to contain human remains.

Since the late 18th century, numerous explanations have been promulgated as to the exact identity of the beast. However none of the theories have been scientifically proven. Suggestions as to what sort of cryptid animals roamed Gévaudan have ranged from exaggerated accounts of wolf attacks, to the myths of the werewolf, or even a punishment from God. Modern theorists now propose the beasts were some type of domestic dog or a wolf-dog hybrid on account of their large size and unusual colouration. In 2001 a French naturalist proposed that the red-colored mastiff belonging to Jean Chastel sired the beast and its resistance to bullets may have been due to it wearing the armoured hide of a young boar thus also accounting for the unusual colour. Hyenas could not be the culprits, as the beast had a bite of 42 teeth while hyenas only have 34


- Source: wikipedia -


Just another interesting tale about an unknown beast. Today is Christmas, So I will be taking the rest of the evening off. Everyone be safe and enjoy the holiday.



Thanks
~Tom~


This post by Thomas Marcum, Thomas is the founder/leader of the cryptozoology and paranormal research organization known as The Crypto Crew. Over 20 years experience with research and investigation of unexplained activity, working with video and websites. A trained wild land firefighter and a published photographer, and poet


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Thursday, December 24, 2015

Tracks and Castings

Bigfoot Tracks and Castings

The following is just another short video showing some of the tracks and track casting our team has found over the years. Some of these were found after a fresh sighting and others were found by exploring areas where there are known Bigfoot activity. These tracks and castings come from various places across the United States. Be forewarned, that some of the tracks in the video are very hard to see due to the lighting and depth of the track.

Here is the video.

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Area where the sighting took place - Photo credit Corey & Tye
There might have been another sighting of a Shunka Warakin in Iowa. If  you remember back in July we got a report of a possible sighting.  Now, we have a possible new sighting. For those who may not know, the Shunka Warakin is a wolf/hyena type creature mostly reported out west.

Here is the new report.

- Start Report - 

Name: Corey & Tye

Email Address: On file

State: Iowa

County: Van Buren

Date of Sighting: December 9-12, 2015

Time of Day: 10 pm-12 am

Nearest Town: Bonaparte

Length of Sighting: approx. 15 mins.

How many Witnesses: Tye and I (2)

Any Photos/Videos: photo of footprint

Describe sighting in detail: 
This is our second sighting of this creature this year.
Around 10 pm, Tye and I were squatching down on the river road and when we came back about 2 hours later, we heard something big take off real close startling both of us but saw nothing. Right after that we heard a scream on the other side of the river and I shined the spotlight and we saw the creature which appeared to be a very large canine-type creature. We watched it for awhile as it was walking among the trees. It had very big green eyes.
We went down by the river bank to get a closer look and watched it, then lost track of it. I was scanning back and forth and then it reappeared. Tye thought she saw red eyes and reddish-brown fur on its head and stood up on its back legs momentarily. Then my spotlight started acting up and we lost track of the creature.
We describe the vocalizations as a long high-pitched whinning scream resembling a hyena but much higher or a human baby crying. We heard it twice that night. It sounded very similar to what we heard near Vernon back in July which is 5 miles up river from Bonaparte. I am very familiar with the local wildlife and I can guarantee that it was not a coyote, wolf or mountain lion. I have never heard anything like this around here. Whatever it is can bring a chill through your body.
Tye and I went over the next morning to investigate. We discovered there were piles of deer carcasses along the river bank from local hunters and it may have been feeding on them but found no footprints around them. However we did find an impression of a huge print on the side of the gravel road which appeared to have 3 toes and around 7 inches wide, bigger than any wolf print. That night we heard it again as we were squatching but further down river. I saw the creature again and saw red eyes this time. But the red eye shine may have been from the angle of its head. Then it disappeared.

Print
On the third night, I walked down the river on town side but heard nothing and Tye walked across the bridge and as she got to the other side she heard the scream way down the river. Later that night we met up and went squatching where we saw the creature and sat at a gun firing range and listened for a couple of hours. We did get some bigfoot activity in the nearby woods and distant vocalizations around 1 am. We also heard a high pitched scream which may have been the creature but was down river from us. It started raining so we headed home. Since then, the river filled up due to recent rains covering up the deer carcasses and we haven't heard or seen it since.
We believe it maybe the same creature that we saw back in July. It's certainly a cryptid and not any known animal. We know it is living around the Des Moines River in southeast Iowa. Is the Shunka Warakin real? We sure think so! Hopefully someday we can capture it on film or even audio. It would certainly blow the cryptozoology community away!

- End Report -



Thanks to Corey and Tye for continuing to investigate this unknown creature. The duo have been doing heavy Bigfoot research for a long time now but have another mystery on their hands.


Thanks
~Tom~


This post by Thomas Marcum, Thomas is the founder/leader of the cryptozoology and paranormal research organization known as The Crypto Crew. Over 20 years experience with research and investigation of unexplained activity, working with video and websites. A trained wild land firefighter and a published photographer, and poet.


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Tuesday, December 22, 2015


Bigfoot Stick Evidence

The following is just a small sample of some of the possible Bigfoot stick formations and tree breaks that have been collected and documented by team members of  The Crypto Crew. Please keep in mind that most of these were documented in areas after a sighting had taken place or in an area where there is Bigfoot activity. Often times these were found in remote areas. This is from several different states.

Yes, of course not every broken tree limb was done by Bigfoot. There have been several times when I personally found Bigfoot tracks under or very close to freshly broken tree limbs.

I have tried to keep the video kind of short. I hope you enjoy it.

Monday, December 21, 2015

Bray Road - Photo Credit: Google Maps
Beast of Bray Road

Beast of Bray Road - The Beast of Bray Road (or the Bray Road Beast) is a cryptid, or cryptozoological, creature first reported in the 1949 on a rural road outside of Elkhorn, Wisconsin. The same label has been applied well beyond the initial location, to any unknown creature from southern Wisconsin or northern Illinois and all the way to Vancouver Island, Canada, that is described as having similar characteristics to those reported in the initial set of sightings.

Bray Road itself is a quiet country road near the community of Elkhorn. The rash of claimed sightings in the late 1980s and early 1990s prompted a local newspaper, the Walworth County Week, to assign reporter Linda Godfrey to cover the story. Godfrey initially was skeptical, but later became convinced of the sincerity of the witnesses. Her series of articles later became a book titled The Beast of Bray Road: Trailing Wisconsin's Werewolf .
The Beast of Bray Road is described by purported witnesses in several ways: as a bear-like creature, as a hairy biped resembling Bigfoot, and as an unusually large (2–4 feet tall on all fours, 7 feet tall standing up) intelligent wolf-like creature apt to walk on its hind legs and weighing 400-700 pounds. It also said that its fur is a brown gray color resembling a dog or bear.

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Still frame from the video
Recently, a couple was out fishing and found these very large human looking foot prints. In the above picture the shoe is dwarfed by the large print. According the what I've read these were found in Hoh Rainforest. The Hoh Rainforest is located on the Olympic Peninsula in western Washington state, USA.

More information can be found on facebook in the Kitsap County Bigfoot Headquarters Group. Reportedly there was 15 total tracks that eventually cut into the woods and onto a mossy area. According to information posted in the Kitsap County Bigfoot HQ, the day the tracks were found it was 38 or 39 degrees and raining. That seems a bit cold for someone to be out running around barefooted. 

Here is the video of the tracks.


I'm pretty sure these were found on December 7th of 2015.

The state of Washington has had a long history of Bigfoot sightings. The BFRO.net sightings database has 615 Bigfoot reports logged in the state of Washington.

This is a very nice track find.



Thanks
~Tom~


This post by Thomas Marcum, Thomas is the founder/leader of the cryptozoology and paranormal research organization known as The Crypto Crew. Over 20 years experience with research and investigation of unexplained activity, working with video and websites. A trained wild land firefighter and a published photographer, and poet


This post sponsored in part by
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Saturday, December 19, 2015

Not actual photo, used for reference (Photo Credit: BFRO.net)
While posting the Bigfoot howls from Kentucky, I also did some research into the area for sighting reports.  The following report is the work of BFRO.net . The report is old but in the same general area as the unknown howls.

- Start Report -

YEAR: 1984
SEASON: Winter
MONTH: January
STATE: Kentucky
COUNTY: Breathitt County
LOCATION DETAILS: Turn off highway 15 toward Lost Creek about 8 miles.
NEAREST TOWN: Jackson
NEAREST ROAD: not sure of the number it ran through lost creek
OBSERVED: As a small child i grew up in south eastern kentucky. Each winter the creek that ran next to our home would freeze over and we would skate on a area we had built a crude dam on. One morning after the creek had frozen back hard after partly thawing my sister and i went to play on the ice. When we arived we noticed that what apeared to be a small bare footed child had walked across the ice before it had fully frozen. The track had a definite form a heel, front pad and five toes .It had crossed a distance of about twenty feet in six steps went up a steep bank slipped down and went on up the bank. No other prints were ever seen and i have never heard of any other encounters in that area. The print was about eight inchs long and three or four inches wide.

ALSO NOTICED: in this area of kentucky there is a large amount of heavily wooded areas thousands of acres with little to no human contact with lots of reclaimed areas with fruit trees turnips and other folage and numerus abandoned mines some well over 100 years old the area of big branch is probably 1000 acres with only a few weekend atv riders ever on them which is heavily wooded and uninhabitited

OTHER WITNESSES: my sister just going to play on the ice

OTHER STORIES: My mother once told us a story of where she lived about 15 miles from there in the big branch area when she was a child and was staying with her grandmother when at night her grandmother would place a bucket with scraps from dinner on the back porch and she thought this was strange that she didnt feed them to the hogs they kept when she asked her grandmother why she did that she told her that was for her hairy man thinking it was only a story to keep the kids in the house at night they decided to stay up to see and she said they witnessed a man covered in brown hair come down from the hill and take the bucket sit down next to the well box only a few yards from the house and it ate the food placed the bucket back on the porch and disapeared back int othe woods
TIME AND CONDITIONS: early morning and very cold below freezing with a light snow
ENVIRONMENT: heavily wooded long hollow at that time only dirt road very few familys on that hollow high applacine moutains.


Follow-up investigation report:
After speaking with the witness, the following information can be added to the report.

The witness stated that they were perfectly preserved human-like footprints and added that the possibility of a human leaving them was extremely low because of sparse population and freezing weather. The prints had been made overnight when something walked through the slush ice that had formed the day before from a combination of thawing and precipitation. The toes were quite distinct and eliminated the possibility of shoe prints in the opinion of the witness. The estimated depth of the print in the ice was just over one inch.

I discussed the possibility of talking with his mother about the content of the report in the other stories section. The timing for speaking with her currently is not good because of a family issue, but I do hope to get that opportunity in a few months.


- End Report -

But wait....there's more! I recently talked with Charlie Raymond from Kentucky Bigfoot Research Organization and he was telling me about a report he was following up on a few days ago. Charlie's report was also in Breathitt County and it contain possible Bigfoot activity dating back several years. Plus, it also had very recent activity. The KBRO has a great database of Kentucky Bigfoot sightings.

So, it appears that Breathitt county has not only a history of Bigfoot activity, but it is still happening.

A big thanks to the BRFO for having a great database of sighting reports.


Thanks
~Tom~


This post by Thomas Marcum, Thomas is the founder/leader of the cryptozoology and paranormal research organization known as The Crypto Crew. Over 20 years experience with research and investigation of unexplained activity, working with video and websites. A trained wild land firefighter and a published photographer, and poet



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