Monckton's Gazeka, also called the Papuan Devil-Pig, is a cryptid, an animal said to have been seen on Papua New Guinea in the early 20th century. It is said to resemble a tapir or giant sloth, having a long, proboscis-like snout, and some theories suggest it may be the descendant of an extinct marsupial belonging to the family Palorchestidae.

Totally separate from that cryptid (to which the name 'Monckton's Gazeka' was confusingly applied by person(s) unknown) is the 'real' Gazeka, which was the creation of the English comic actor, George Graves, who introduced it as a bit of by-play in the musical, The Little Michus at Daly's Theatre, London, in 1905. A contemporary magazine described it thus: "According to Mr. Graves, the Gazeka was first discovered by an explorer who was accompanied in his travels by a case of whiskey, and who half thought that he had seen it before in a sort of dream." Graves's idea became a fad of the season and George Edwardes mounted a competition to encourage artists to give sketches of what the beast might look like. Charles Folkard won the competition, and the Gazeka suddenly appeared in the form of various items of novelty jewellery, charms, etc., and was taken up by Perrier, the sparkling water makers, for a series of advertisements. Children attending matinée performances at Daly's during the 1905–06 Christmas holidays were presented with "a materialized Gazeka, the Unique Toy of the Season". The Gazeka also featured in a special song and dance in the entertainment Akezag, at the London Hippodrome at Christmas, 1905.
Firby-Smith, a schoolboy in P.G. Wodehouse's 1909 novel Mike, has the nickname "Gazeka" because of a supposed physical resemblance.
- Source: wikipedia -

But, there is more relating to this creature. There was this stone, carved figure found in the Ambum river valley, which is now Papua New Guinea. The stone figure dates back to prehistoric times and many feel it could be a representation of the ctyptid Devil Pig.

The old statue.

Papua New Guinea is home to a large number of what I'd would call odd or unusual looking animals. It has many different kind of rats and bats, so are pretty large. A good number of new species is commonly found in Papua New Guinea, as well.

So, could the Devil pig be real? I think there is a good possibility that either this creature is still there or was at one time. It also has a lot of similarities with the Giant sloth, which we have some records of. Maybe it was some kind of subspecies of the giant sloth.




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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Expedition Unknown

Last night was the 2 hour premier episode of Expedition Unknown featuring Josh Gates. Most of you are already aware of Gates from his past show Destination Truth, which was on the SyFy Channel.

Expedition Unknown's first episode had Gates hot on the trail of famous missing pilot Amelia Earhart. Gates travels to Papua New Guinea (PNG) and pursues several leads which has him covering several areas. PNG, as it is called, is very diverse culturally and it is estimated that there is over 1,000 culture groups. With 848 languages, Gates, has some helpers in the form of interpreters.

It was interesting seeing the tribes in this area, as they came out to welcome Gates in the full tribal decor. There where some tense moments, after all this is a place where you may have be killed and eaten in days gone by.

The episode's central focus was on the discovery of a box full of bones, that very possibly could have been the bones of Amelia Earhart. Gates has to talk to a lot of people to chase down the whereabouts of the bones. He finally ends up digging in the area where the bones where discovered in the box by a then 13 year old boy.

During the episode there is also some investigating of crashed aircraft in an attempt to local the plane Earhart was piloting. It also leads to some water searching and diving, which adds to the excitement.

Josh Gates, is witty and likable in Expedition Unknown and the show is very reminisce in style as his former gig, Destination Truth.

I found this episode to be filled with interesting information and enjoyed the awesome scenery of PNG. With the advertisement of future episodes making several cameos last night, the show looks like it will be as fun and entertaining as anything currently offered.

If there is one thing that disappointed me, it would be that there doesn't appears to be any shows featuring cryptids. I hope this changes and it very well could. It would also be nice to see Gates bring in some of is old team for a few shows as well. We all remember the chemistry between Gates and Jael de Pardo from Fact or Faked, right? Jael made many appearances on Destination Truth and they played off of each other very well.    

So, in closing, let me say if you enjoyed watching Josh Gates on his last show, then you should also find Expedition Unknown to your liking. Welcome Back Josh!

My final rating for this Episode
4 out of 5      

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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