WELCOME TO THE CFZ BLOG NETWORK: COME AND JOIN THE FUN

Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

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Unlike some of our competitors we are not going to try and blackmail you into donating by saying that we won't continue if you don't. That would just be vulgar, but our lives, and those of the animals which we look after, would be a damn sight easier if we receive more donations to our fighting fund. Donate via Paypal today...




Wednesday, November 12, 2014

TODAY'S BIG CAT NEWS

The hunt for British Big Cats attracts far more newspaper-column inches than any other cryptozoological subject. 

There are so many of them now that we feel that they should be archived by us in some way, so we are publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in. 

The worldwide mystery cat phenomenon (or group of phenomena, if we are to be more accurate) is not JUST about cryptozoology. At its most basic level it is about the relationship between our species and various species of larger cat. That is why sometimes you will read stories here that appear to have nothing to do with cryptozoology but have everything to do with human/big cat interaction. As committed Forteans, we believe that until we understand the nature of these interactions, we have no hope of understanding the truth that we are seeking.

  • NEWSLINK: SGNP loses 'fiery' Daksha, one of its ol...
  • NEWSLINK: Pugmarks on Gomti banks in Maal
  • US SIGHTINGS: Monterey police warn of early-mornin...

  • US SIGHTINGS: Cougars may be back on the prowl in ...
  • CRYPTOLINK: Afghanistan’s Bigfoot and Fanged Deer

    A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting (sometimes for the wrong reasons), usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me. 

    bigfootpakistan2

    It seems like the only media coverage Afghanistan gets these days is about war, terrorism and heroin, but this beautiful and ancient country has many wonderful stories to tell. Two popped up recently about little-known cryptid creatures of Afghanistan – a deer with fangs and a Bigfoot cousin known as the Barmanou.

    According to an article in the November edition of the journal Oryx, the Wildlife Conservation Society says the last confirmed sighting anywhere in Afghanistan of the endangered Kashmir musk deer was over 60 years ago in 1948. The fangs or tusks were only found in males and, not surprisingly, were used to compete for females. As their name suggests, they also had musk glands which they were hunted for to extinction in Afghanistan – until a survey team spotted a male, female and juvenile in a mountainous area
    Read on...

    BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF



    Bigfoot Evidence and Sightings 2014: Florida Man Wins $100000 in Research Money to Hunt ...
    After winning a $100,000 research grant on Spike TV's reality competition "10 Million Dollar Big Foot Bounty," Lauer has a strengthened resolve to find ...

    5 Awesome Bigfoot Films Selected By the Director of 'Feed the Gods'
    Perhaps the most harmful piece of Bigfoot film ever shot, Harry and the Hendersons successfully altered the public's perception of an otherwise

    Possible Bigfoot Vocals Caught on Video While Checking Gifting Area
    Even more interesting is that during their hike after leaving the gifting area, Barb was able to catch some possible bigfoot "Whoops" on video. Turn

    What the Heck is This Little Thing? A Baby Bigfoot? (Video)
    Bigfooter Scott Carpenter caught some interesting on his game camera video. Something small pops its head up in the lower left-hand corner of the ...

    This Bigfoot Video Has Some of the Worst CGI I've Ever Seen
    The Kentucky Bigfoot video is one of the first video breakdowns ParaBreakdown posted. We revisit the old video and look at some seriously bad CGI ...

    Man and Dogs Encounter Dogman in Pennsylvania
    Not all encounters with large, hairy, bipedal creatures are bigfoot. Sometimes people report the creature having a muzzle or snout like a canine

    Are Bigfoot Sightings Warnings About Geological Changes?
    Interesting article on bigfoot sightings and geological content.http://www.sunstar-solutions.com/BFgeological.htm#Kmap

    New Breakdown Video: Colorado Bigfoot Yellow Top Revealed!
    ParaBreakdown takes a new look at an old video, and discovers the fascinating truth behind the Colorado Yellow Top bigfoot video.

    Les Stroud and Kelly Shaw Are Squatchin' In Utah, Right Now
    According to Les, what's different this time around is that he's taking his son along for the filming of the new Survivorman: Bigfoot episodes. A couple of  

    FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES


      What has Corinna's column of fortean bird news got to do with Cryptozoology?

      Well, everything actually!

      In an article for the first edition of Cryptozoology Bernard Heuvelmans wrote that cryptozoology is the study of 'unexpected animals' and following on from that perfectly reasonable assertion, it seems to us that whereas the study of out-of-place birds may not have the glamour of the hunt for bigfoot or lake monsters, it is still a perfectly valid area for the Fortean zoologist to be interested in.




      NESSIENEWS: Experts say new Loch Ness Monster video is false but it won't deter Nessie hunters from their search






      A NEW video that claims to show the Loch Ness Monster definitely reveals a LOG, say experts.

      Richard Collis was amazed when he saw what looked like the neck and head of the legendary creature sticking out of the choppy waters as he drove alongside Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands last week.

      A self-proclaimed Nessie sceptic who was born and brought up in the area Mr Collis, 58, stopped his car and managed to take some footage and photos on his phone before the ‘creature’ disappeared under the water.

      The new images and grainy video went viral online with excited Nessie watchers thrilled at the latest sighting.

      “As I was watching, I was thinking what the hell is that! I’ve fished the loch man and boy and I’ve heard a couple of mates saying they had seen something,” said Mr Collis.

      “I’m not saying it was a fire breathing dragon and I never saw teeth or anything like that, but I must have thought there was something there if I stopped to take pictures.”

      THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN IS DILIGENT

      The Gonzo Daily - Wednesday
       
      Jessica and Danny were both here yesterday. Danny worked solidly in the garden and Jessica and I finished the second proof of Neil Nixon's new book for Gonzo and then we worked tirelessly on the second volume of Mysterious Creatures. They are both nice kids and worked very hard. I am very lucky with my current team of employees and helpers; Andrea, Jess, Tamara and Danny. They are all excellent, and I just wish that I had more money so I could employ them on a more regular basis, but following the recent unpleasantness about which some of you know, my income is severely depleted until I finish some major building work on my Exeter house. I know that things have been slow this year but I would like to reassure everyone that things are still moving in the right direction, we are all still alive, but in the last few years the CFZ workforce in particular has been massively depleted. However, we will get back on track again as soon as we can. Watch this space.
       
       
       
      Jack Bruce, Corky Laing, Mountain, Tony Palmer, Steve Hillage, Erasure, Keith Levene, Jon Anderson, Yes, Nick Redfern, Cat Stevens, Steve Ignorant, Hawkwind, and Daevid Allen fans had better look out! The latest issue of Gonzo Weekly (#103) IS available to read at www.gonzoweekly.com, and to download at http://www.gonzoweekly.com/pdf/.
       
      It has Jack Bruce on the cover, and features an interview with Corky Laing about his erstwhile bandmate inside. We also have a tribute to Jack Bruce from Tony Palmer, and another from Rob Ayling together with an unpublished photoshoot of Bruce and Pete Brown. But there's more! There is news about Daevid Allen, Doug Harr goes to see Erasure, Jon waxes lyrical about Steve Ignorant's new album, and critiques Yusuf Islam's and comes to the conclusion that Cat Stephens is a very brave man.  Xtul are still in the deep woods, and Corinna finds some real Beatles tat. There is news and unpublished pictures from Keith Levene in Prague, and we send Steve Hillage to a desert island. There are also new shows from the multi-talented Neil Nixon at Strange Fruit and from M Destiny at Friday Night Progressive, and the massively talented Jaki and Tim are back with their submarine and Maisie the cow. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and turtles having a snooze (OK, no soporific chelonians, but I got carried away with things that rhymed with OOOOS) than you can shake a stick at. And the best part is IT's ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!
       
      Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:
       
      Issue 102 (Steve Hillage cover)
      http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-gonzo-weekly-102.html
      Issue 101 (Tommy James cover)
      http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/10/gonzo-weekly-101.html
      Issue 100 (Jon Anderson cover)
      http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/10/gonzo-weekly-100.html
      Issue 99 (Judge Smith cover)
      http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/10/gonzo-weekly-99.html
      Issue 98 (Matt Malley cover)
      http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/10/gonzo-weekly-98.html
      Issue 97 (Evelyn cover)
      http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/09/gonzo-weekly-97.html
      Issue 96 (Oz cover)
      http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/09/gonzo-weekly-96.html
      Issue 95 (Mick Rogers cover)
      http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/09/gonzo-weekly-95.html
      Issue 94 (John Ellis cover)
      http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/09/gonzo-weekly-94.html
       

      All issues from #70 can be downloaded at www.gonzoweekly.com if you prefer. If you have problems downloading, just email me and I will add you to the Gonzo Weekly dropbox. The first 69 issues are archived there as well. Information is power chaps, we have to share it!
       
      You can download the magazine in pdf form HERE:
      http://www.gonzoweekly.com/pdf/
       

      *  The Gonzo Daily is a two way process. If you have any news or want to write for us, please contact me at  jon@eclipse.co.uk. If you are an artist and want to showcase your work, or even just say hello please write to me at gonzo@cfz.org.uk. Please copy, paste and spread the word about this magazine as widely as possible. We need people to read us in order to grow, and as soon as it is viable we shall be invading more traditional magaziney areas. Join in the fun, spread the word, and maybe if we all chant loud enough we CAN stop it raining. See you tomorrow...

      *  The Gonzo Daily is - as the name implies - a daily online magazine (mostly) about artists connected to the Gonzo Multimedia group of companies. But it also has other stuff as and when the editor feels like it. The same team also do a weekly newsletter called - imaginatively - The Gonzo Weekly. Find out about it at this link: www.gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit-to-print.html
       
      * We should probably mention here, that some of our posts are links to things we have found on the internet that we think are of interest. We are not responsible for spelling or factual errors in other people's websites. Honest guv!

      *  Jon Downes, the Editor of all these ventures (and several others) is an old hippy of 55 who - together with an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon which he shares with various fish, and sometimes a small Indian frog. He is ably assisted by his lovely wife Corinna, his bulldog/boxer Prudence, his elderly mother-in-law, and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we mention the infantile orange cat?

      NEWS FROM NOWHERE - Wednesday

      ON THIS DAY IN 1927 - Joseph Stalin became the undisputed ruler of the Soviet Union. Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party leading to Stalin coming to power. 

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    • I'm A Celebrity 2014: Chris Packham criticises 're...

    • AND TO WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK... (Music that may have some relevance to items also on this page, or may just reflect my mood on the day)