Giant being exhumed

The Cardiff Giant was one of the most famous hoaxes in United States history. It was a 10-foot (3.0 m) tall purported "petrified man" uncovered on October 16, 1869, by workers digging a well behind the barn of William C. "Stub" Newell in Cardiff, New York. Both it and an unauthorized copy made by P.T. Barnum are still on display.


The giant was the creation of a New York tobacconist named George Hull. Hull, an atheist, decided to create the giant after an argument at a Methodist revival meeting about Genesis 6:4 stating that there were giants who once lived on Earth.
The idea of a petrified man did not originate with Hull, however. In 1858 the newspaper Alta California had published a bogus letter claiming that a prospector had been petrified when he had drunk a liquid within a geode. Some other newspapers also had published stories of supposedly petrified people.
Hull hired men to carve out a 10-foot-4.5-inch-long (3.2 m) block of gypsum in Fort Dodge, Iowa, telling them it was intended for a monument to Abraham Lincoln in New York. He shipped the block to Chicago, where he hired Edward Burghardt, a German stonecutter, to carve it into the likeness of a man and swore him to secrecy.

Various stains and acids were used to make the giant appear to be old and weathered, and the giant's surface was beaten with steel knitting needles embedded in a board to simulate pores. In November 1868, Hull transported the giant by rail to the farm of William Newell, his cousin. By then, he had spent US$2,600 on the hoax (nearly $45,000 in 2013 dollars, adjusted for inflation).
Nearly a year later, Newell hired Gideon Emmons and Henry Nichols, ostensibly to dig a well, and on October 16, 1869 they found the giant. One of the men reportedly exclaimed, "I declare, some old Indian has been buried here!" 
 
Newell set up a tent over the giant and charged 25 cents for people who wanted to see it. Two days later he increased the price to 50 cents. People came by the wagon load.
Archaeological scholars pronounced the giant a fake, and some geologists even noticed that there was no good reason to try to dig a well in the exact spot the giant had been found. Yale palaeontologist Othniel C. Marsh called it "a most decided humbug". Some theologians and preachers, however, defended its authenticity.

Eventually, Hull sold his part-interest for $23,000 (equivalent to $430,000 in 2016) to a syndicate of five men headed by David Hannum. They moved it to Syracuse, New York, for exhibition. The giant drew such crowds that showman P. T. Barnum offered $50,000 for the giant. When the syndicate turned him down, he hired a man to model the giant's shape covertly in wax and create a plaster replica. He put his giant on display in New York, claiming that his was the real giant, and the Cardiff Giant was a fake.

As the newspapers reported Barnum's version of the story, David Hannum was quoted as saying, "There's a sucker born every minute" in reference to spectators paying to see Barnum's giant. Over time, the quotation has been misattributed to Barnum himself.
Hannum sued Barnum for calling his giant a fake, but the judge told him to get his giant to swear on his own genuineness in court if he wanted a favorable injunction.

On December 10, Hull confessed to the press. On February 2, 1870 both giants were revealed as fakes in court. The judge ruled that Barnum could not be sued for calling a fake giant a fake.

The Cardiff Giant appeared in the 1901 Pan-American Exposition, but did not attract much attention.
Iowa publisher Gardner Cowles, Jr. bought it later to adorn his basement rumpus room as a coffee table and conversation piece. In 1947 he sold it to the Farmers' Museum in Cooperstown, New York, where it is still on display.

  - Source: wikipedia -

There is a few things that stand out to me about this hoax. One is that it was created by an atheist after a debate about giants in the bible. I guess his thought or plan was to suck everyone in, especially religious people, and then reveal it was a hoax. The other thing is that he carved a large penis on the figure. I find that amusing, sorry.

To be honest, I had never heard of the Cardiff Giant until I ran across it today. It just goes to show you that hoaxers have been around for a long time and they, for the most part, haven't gotten any better at hoaxing. There will always be people who hoax and fake evidence, it just goes with the territory. And in today's world of social media, it is much easier for something to spread all over the world very quickly .

But, like many hoaxes, even after being revealed as a hoax, they continue to be spread and viewed. They continue to fool the uninformed and the gullible. We see this very often in the Bigfoot community. Photoshopped images of Bigfoot keep popping up from years gone by. They get shared on social media and fool a whole new batch of uninformed people. It causes arguments and debates and in the end it hurts and hinders authentic research efforts.

Sometimes you just have to laugh and move on, or it will drive you crazy. 


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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Over the last few days, I have been battling with a head cold. So, while trying not to over do it, I thought I'd just watch a movie.  Being a fan of Nicolas Cage, I settled on Pay the Ghost. I had never heard of this movie. The plot of the movie is fairly straight forward. A professor (cage) takes his young son to a Halloween carnival and the child vanishes right from his side. After about a year, the professor and his estranged wife (Sarah Wayne Callies, The Walking Dead) start to have odd things happen and soon realize their son is trying to contact them. As the couple tries to uncover the mystery about their son, they follow the clues and learn about a local legend that refuses to die.

Now, this movies offers very little in the way of "something new", but I found it very entertaining. It does contain some "jumpy" parts and a dark gloomy atmosphere. It is very well acted and the mystery of the phrase "pay the ghost" figures into film very well. Another good thing, at least for me, was that the movie contains no sex scenes or nudity. I don't even think there was any swear words. The film should hold most people interest, as it did mine. The movie moves along and avoids the boring scenes that can kill movies of this type.

In the Bigfoot world, there is often talk about portals, well this just might be a movie for you as portals play a important part in the most climactic part of the film. In fact, one of the more creepy parts of the film happen during this part of the film.


In the end, the film is a very watchable and falls into the realm of such films as Insidious. It's a supernatural child abduction movie.

Rating: 3 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



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Is this a Bigfoot crawling on the ground? Still frame from video.

This comes from our friends over at  Kentucky Bigfoot Research Organization. It was recorded during a BFRO expedition back in October of 2010.  The video could possibly show a Bigfoot doing a belly crawl.

Here is part of what is posted in the description of the video.

"This video was recorded during a BFRO expedition on October 2, 2010. The location will not be disclosed due to a NDA. Over the four day expedition large tracks were casted, possible audio clips recorded, a researcher was zapped (hit with infrasound) and perhaps most significantly, this video was recorded. The location is in a very remote region, on top of a mountain which has had a long history of Bigfoot activity........After we parked we began our hike down the trail with only our red headlamps, audio equipment, s’mores (bait/food) and a FLIR. We were talking and laughing, hoping to entice a curious Bigfoot. My wife even stated with a chuckle, “We come in peace. We have s’mores!” Suddenly we jumped something huge to our right! It sounded massive. I've jumped many deer and this sounded MUCH larger. It really startled all of us! It only ran for a second or two and then oddly, it got absolutely quiet. The only sounds to be heard were our hearts beating out of our chests. The FLIR was turned on and a few video clips were recorded......"

Here is the video.


It is a very interesting capture and if you add in some of the other things that happened during the expedition, it seems to point to the fact that it may have been a Bigfoot.

I would like to invite reads to click on the video title and read the complete description of the events that took place. Also on their youtube channel there is a recreation of this video and a longer version. You can go there and check it out by clicking Here.



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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Courtesy of  The Nerd Filter

The Enfield Monster refers to reports of an unidentified creature around Enfield, Illinois, United States in April 1973. The reports were covered by the news media at the time, with some suggesting they may have been caused by a wild ape or escaped kangaroo.
Used as a case study for a paper on social contagion in 1978, sociologists cite the episode as an example of collective behavior where a group or crowd can be affected by the spread of "group emotions" such as "panics, hysterias, collective visions, and extreme instances of suggestibility.

At about 9:30 on the night of April 25, 1973, Henry McDaniel heard a scratching sound at his front door. He looked out, and saw something that he thought might be a bear. Taking a gun and flashlight, he headed outside into a strong wind and saw a creature between two rosebushes. He later said "It had three legs on it, a short body, two little short arms, and two pink eyes as big as flashlights. It stood four and a half feet tall and was grayish-colored." He added later that it was "almost like a human body".

McDaniel fired four shots at the creature, one shot hitting it and causing it to make a hiss "much like a wildcat's", before fleeing towards a nearby railway embankment, covering 50 feet in three jumps. McDaniel called the local authorities who discovered footprints in the soft earth near the house, which McDaniel described as dog-like in shape, with six toe pads. The police considered McDaniel to be "rational and sober" in his reporting of the incident. In a later press interview, McDaniel said "If they do find it, they will find more than one and they won't be from this planet, I can tell you that."
Investigators interviewing nearby residents were told that Greg Garrett, a ten-year-old neighbor of McDaniel, claimed to have encountered the creature half an hour before McDaniel did, and that the creature had stepped on his feet, tearing his tennis shoes to shreds. The boy later told Western Illinois University researchers that his report was a hoax "to tease Mr. M and have fun with an out of town newsman."


Two weeks later on May 6, McDaniel called the radio station WWKI claiming to have seen the creature again, at 3am that morning. It was negotiating the trestles of the railroad tracks near his home, and McDaniel said "I saw something moving out on the railroad track and there it stood. I didn't shoot at it or anything. It started on down the railroad track. It wasn't in a hurry or anything." A search party including WWKI's news director Rick Rainbow explored the area later that day, and reported observing an "apelike" creature standing in an abandoned building near McDaniel's house. They claimed to have made a recording of the creature's cries, and fired a shot at it before it fled. Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman investigated the case and the sound recording. 

Two days later, a day after McDaniel was interviewed on local radio, the local press reported that police were called to investigate reports of gunfire, and arrested five young men from out of town who had come to Enfield in order to photograph the creature, carrying shotguns and rifles "for protection", the men having claimed to have sighted the creature. The White County sheriff dismissed reports of this as a "monster hunting expedition" as an exaggeration, saying that the men were just "out drinking and raising hell", mentioning the monster only briefly during questioning. The men were charged with hunting violations.

The incidents were reported widely in the press at the time – it appeared in newspapers throughout the state on 27 April 1973, and on 7 May there was an interview on radio station WGN, Chicago and articles in the Chicago Daily News, the Moline Dispatch, Champaign-Urbana Courier and the Alton Telegraph. There were earlier articles in the Carmi Times, and an updated summary of the events appeared in Pennsylvania's Reading Eagle in August 1973. After the arrest of the five men who had arrived to hunt the creature, residents of Enfield expressed fears that press coverage would lead to further "monster hunters", who might inadvertently shoot citizens or livestock.


It was suggested that the creature may have been a kangaroo escaped from a nearby zoo, which would explain the "three legs" description as the tails of kangaroos look like a third leg. McDaniel was adamant that the creature "wasn't no kangaroo", having owned such a creature as a pet while on military service in Australia, and noting that kangaroos have narrow faces and tracks that leave claw marks. Following media coverage of the creature, an Ohio man contacted a local newspaper stating that the creature may have been his pet kangaroo, Macey, which had been lost or stolen a year previously.


A few days after the event, United Press International quoted an anthropology student who suggested that the creature may have been a wild ape, noting that such animals had been reported throughout the Mississippi area since 1941.


- Source: wikipedia -

Now, don't confuse this with the Enfield Poltergeist, which was the name given to the claims of poltergeist activity at a council house in Brimsdown, Enfield, England.

What I found interesting and mildly amusing, about this tale is how the hunting party went after it and got arrested. It reminded me of people nowadays going after Bigfoot with rifles. It can become dangerous. 

What do you think the Enfield Monster is? I'm leaning towards it being a kangaroo.


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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Mock up picture - Not actual photo. Used for reference only.

I got the following report in a couple days ago. It is an interesting report and is something many people have reported seeing.

Here is the report.

- Start Report -

Name: Debbie ****

Email Address: on file

State: ky

County: bell

Date of Sighting: 1987-88

Time of Day: night

Nearest Town: pineville

Length of Sighting: overtime

How many Witnesses: 2

Any Photos/Videos: yes but i don't have them with me.

Describe sighting in detail:
In the 1980s I had move into my grandmothers house. I lived there when I was a young girl before my grandparents lived there and loved it but the people who lived in the house last did not take care of it and keep it up. The roof leaked and the paint was gone off the outside,and windows were busted. The two back doors didn't have any locks, so I had to make my own locks with two boards and nails.

My cousin kept saying he thought he would see shadows go back in forth through the living room and kitchen part when he was brushing his hair. My husband said he thought he saw things in the corner of his eye at that time. I did not have cable and the TV signed off at 11:30. When I had a fire built in the fire place, my husband hadn't got home yet, the kids were in bed. At that time I smoked cigarettes, I always blew the smoke at the fire place but I noticed that night the smoke wasn't going into the fireplace and keep going in a circle and into the next room. I kept feeling like someone was starring at me. So the TV signed off and I got up to turn it off. The smoke had surrounded the shape of something through the door way starring at ME through the mirror, which was by the doorway. It looked like it had long stringy hair, hollow black eyes, big long teeth and claws. I screamed god help me Jesus and turned the light back on, and kept it on till my husband got there. We didn't see anything else that night but whole time I lived in that house I became very sick and lost a lot of weight, I weighed about 75 pounds. I couldn't eat or sleep, always got very nervous, felt like I was losing my mind.

I begin to hear something make a tapping noise across the kitchen floor. I thought it may be a big rat and I sat out all kinds of poison but nothing stopped it. So, I thought what if its a snake. I took a flashlight to bed with me so I could turn it on when I heard the noise to see if I could find out what it was. There was a street light that shined through the window a few houses away so when I turned around to turn the flash light on I saw a shadow about four foot tall coming across the floor making the tapping noise. It was a shape of my grandmother with a headscarf and carrying two plates coming in my direction. I screamed no I don't want anything keep it and threw the cover over my head for a few minutes and then looked again nothing was there. Then I heard a very scary voice say why don't you just put the pillow over your head and suffocate yourself to death because no one loves you or cares about you anyway, so you might as well kill yourself and get it over with. Then I heard another calm voice saying your children love you, your dad and aunt, husband loves you and I love you. Who will raise your children right. I told the voice that spoke to me, no I will not do it (kill myself) to get away from me and leave me along. And it was like a bee hive going off in my head.
I saw all kinds of lights flashing going off like an explosion.

The next day I was standing on my porch and some people drove by in a truck and came back and talk to me and said that the lord had told them to come and pick me up that there was a revival at church and said I could come if I wanted to. I told them I would go and at the church service that night when they made the altar call there was so many people there that I could not get out of the aisle. So I lifted my hands and said God, if you don't help me I'm going to die and there will be no one to raise my children right. I felt like a warm fire came over me and I did not know what it was, it scared me and I started to ask someone what it was. I just lifted my hands and continued to thank the lord. Very shortly after that I moved out of the house and began to feel so much better right away. I have pictures of that house that was talking at night and there was like light coming out of the windows that looked like hands. There were three of them that came all over the house. There is a lot more to the house but if you want to hear more I can tell you later.
Thank you for your time

- End Report -

It sure sounds like there was something going on in that old house. I'm sure I have read about other cases where the person experienced weigh loss due to paranormal activity.

I can understand where Debbie is coming from, I lived in a house that had activity in it. That activity is still happening today. I hope to tell all about that at some point.

Also, I have ask Debbie for the photos she talked about in her report. If she is able to get them to me, I will update the post to include them.

Thanks goes to Debbie for telling us about some of her experiences with the spirit world. 


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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The Ebu Gogo are a group of human-like creatures that appear in the mythology of Flores, Indonesia. In the Nage language of central Flores, ebu means 'grandmother' and gogo means 'he who eats anything'. A colloquial English equivalent might be something like "Granny Glutton."

The Nage people of Flores describe the Ebu Gogo as having been able walkers and fast runners around 1.5 m tall. They reportedly had wide and flat noses, broad faces with large mouths and hairy bodies. The females also had "long, pendulous breasts." They were said to have murmured in what was assumed to be their own language and could reportedly repeat what was said to them in a parrot-like fashion.


The legends relating to the Ebu Gogo were traditionally attributed to monkeys, according to the journal Nature.


The Nage people believe that the Ebu Gogo were alive at the time of the arrival of Portuguese trading ships in the 17th century, and some hold that they survived as recently as the 20th century, but are now no longer seen. The Ebu Gogo are believed to have been hunted to extinction by the human inhabitants of Flores. They believe that the extermination, which culminated around seven generations ago, was undertaken because the Ebu Gogo stole food from human dwellings, and kidnapped children.


An article in New Scientist (Vol. 186, No. 2504) gives the following account of folklore on Flores surrounding the Ebu Gogo: The Nage people of central Flores tell how, in the 18th century, villagers disposed of the Ebu Gogo by tricking them into accepting gifts of palm fiber to make clothes. When the Ebu Gogo took the fiber into their cave, the villagers threw in a firebrand to set it alight. The story goes that all the occupants were killed, except perhaps for one pair, who fled into the deepest forest, and whose descendants may be living there still.

There are also legends about the Ebu Gogo kidnapping human children, hoping to learn from them how to cook. The children always easily outwit the Ebu Gogo in the tales.

The discovery of the remains of a meter-tall hominid on Flores Homo floresiensis, alive at least as recently as 13,000 years ago, has inspired more literal interpretations of the Ebu Gogo stories. Anthropologist Gregory Forth, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Alberta, Canada has stated that "wildman" myths are prevalent in Southeast Asia and has investigated their linguistic and ritual roots, speculating that H. floresiensis may be evidence that the folktales of Ebu Gogo and similar creatures such as the Orang Pendek on Sumatra may be rooted in fact.


- Source: wikipedia -

I really don't have anything to add to this one other than to say it reminds me of Orang Pendek. The size and description are very similar.

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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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 can be found lurking in his cave today on the banks of the Murray River at Sturt Reserve Murray Bridge.


(source - Janesoceania, Murraybridge.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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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.



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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.



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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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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




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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



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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



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