It's Doggone

In October 2018 a 22 year old Scotsman from Haddington, East Lothian, had a fight with an English Bulldogge  ... his pet.

'Biggie' Really Loved Peanut Butter

..... He lost. 

Old Stinker Is Back

This blog is never immune to a bit of 'Forteana' reporting, and indeed has often posted stories before the 'The Fortean Times', the 'Bible' on this subject e.g. the post on the sugar tidal wave. So this may also be something of a exclusive (well apart from the newspapers who carried the story) ....

Sightings Location Was Spookie In The Past ....

 

Perhaps the strangest part of the story is that its set in Hull, which is not a town you think of first, when it comes to the 'supernatural'. 

 

The Things Men Do

There is probably one thing that most women can agree with, and that's that 'men are the same the world over'. And in those three quarters of the world where women are free, and alcohol is allowed, there is no greater reason for men to lie, than to make excuses for 'having a drink with the lads'.

But in the annals of male excuses for this event, I suspect that even in the ports of Europe, no man has ever used the excuse of mermaids as a reason for a piss up, but certainly not in a land locked country. However, in what I can only continue to consider a world first, the builders of two irrigation pump reservoirs near Gokwe and Mutare  in Zimbabwe, downed tools, claiming that they were being 'menaced by mermaids'. Apparently this belief in mermaids, aka Njuzu, is very strong in Zimbabwe, where they are supposed to have supernatural powers and are bad Juju. 

Pictures of Zimbabwe Mermaids aka Njuzu are circulating the Internet

The water resources minister Samuel Nkomo reported that "All the officers I have sent vowed not to go back there, we even hired whites thinking that our boys did not want to work but they also returned".

The solution? Ah, well, this is where many women would share a knowing glance, the minister suggested that they would solve the problem the African way by "brewing a traditional beer to carry out rites to appease the spirits" .... well we all know what those special rites are, don't we lads, 'wink'.

Yeti Nother One Bites The Dust

It was with a tinge of sadness that I read the story about the death of the 'Yeti' – or rather the death of the dream of there being a Yeti.

Apparently, it’s just an unusual and probably large brown bear, closely related to the polar bear. Its habitat in the forests on the slope of the Himalayas etc probably account for its occasionally unusual behaviour (for a bear) of walking upright, and that has caused it to be attributed as a Yeti / Abominable Snowman, rather then being recognised as a bear …. Or at least that’s the hypothesis of the scientist who has performed the latest DNA tests on ‘Yeti’ hairs brought down from the high forests.

Big Foot or Bear or a_Bush

Still this is better than the last lot of DNA tests, which said it was a 'Himalayas Goat' …. So we are heading in the right direction with a bear.

Still I can’t help being disappointed that the only major cryptological animal (Sea Monsters, Thunderbirds, Giant snakes etc) that I actually thought might be real, has apparently finally been found to be something rather more mundane.  On the other hand ... 'Jurassic Park' could be back on the drawing board. It seems that they've finally found a fossilized mosquito full of prehistoric blood!

I am not holding my breath, but hey after the death of the Yeti, at least this is a bit of good news.

Alien Big Cats - Britain

A is for Aardvark, or Alien.

A is for Aardvark or Alien

B is for Bat, or Big

B is for Bat or Big

and C is fortean Cats ..... and, at least if you believe in Alien Big Cats being let loose and wandering the British countryside, then L is for Lynxes, Leopards or Lion.

Fishy Tails

This blog always likes a good Fortean tale, especially of a  fishy kind .....

Merman 'Buzzing' Ships .....

 ..... so its only natural that while others look to US Government denial for Roswell, or the Grassy knoll, or even 9/11, that I on the other hand demand an explanation for the ships being buzzed by mermen and mermaids!

Mermaid Or Fishy Fake?

I have briefly discussed Merfish (aka Fiji Mermaids) amongst other things on previous blog posts ...

 

Typical Monkey Fish

 
..... but never seen how to make them.

Mammoth News

In one of those stories that any reader of this blog will know that I can't resist, there have been reports that a 'Woolly Mammoth' has been filmed in Siberia ..... and here's what's causing the stir

Siberian Mammoth 2012

Superficially this picture and the accompanying, but strangely short video (... less than 10 seconds long), appear to be proof positive that Mammoths survived in Siberia from the Pleistocene. But there are in fact several issues with this story that show it to be possibly not quite what it seems.

Grease Devils

This blog has long had an interest in Fortean News from around the world, so our interest was much intrigued by a tale from Sri Lanka of the activities of the notorious "Grease Devils" .... a name given to malevolent men who smear themselves in grease to avoid being caught.

"Grease Devils" Have A Long History In Sri Lanka

Apparently the panic has been caused by (or been the cause of), large swathes of the country being gripped by a fear of 'nocturnal prowlers', who have frequented rural areas apparently assaulting women at night.

Of course in this part of the world once the stories started, the mob violence was quickly underway and a series of brutal retaliatory vigilante attacks have left people murdered.

The police and army have arrested hundreds and even deployed tanks ...... but the panic currently shows no sign of abating. Interestingly those reporting attacks from "grease devils" have been Muslim or Tamil rather than the majority Sinhalese community .... perhaps the triumphant Sinhalese feel confident enough, to not fear prowlers in the night?

What with the End of the World coming so often this year, and conspiracies knowing no limit in their scope, why anyone would think we were living in the "End Of Days".

The End Of The World .... What Again?

The end of the world? Maybe, but not as we know it .... no its coming up to the latest 'End of the World prophecy time.


Christian Minister Harold Camping

This follows hot on the heels of the geriatric Christian minister Harold Camping, who predicted that the world would end on the 21st of May 2011.

Rome Wasn't Built In A Day

Rome Wasn't Built In A Day .... but apparently many Romans this week thought it could be knocked down in one.

In an odd story, it appears that the urban grapevine had created a legend, which was that the late seismologist Raffaele Bendand (who died in 1979), had predicted that the city would be devastated by an earth quake on 11 May 2011. Consequently, and despite special programmes having been run on state TV calling for calm, reports suggested that as many as an additional 18% of city employees planned to stay away from work to avoid the city on that date.

Bendandi, who was knighted by Mussolini in 1927 for his prophetic meteorological skills, after he apparently used his theory that the movement of the planets caused seismic activity, to accurately predict a 1923 quake that killed 1,000 people. He was also banned from making public predictions, on pain of exile .... and he never actually made any further predictions about the future. Paola Lagorio the President of the the foundation that honours Bendandi said "I can say with absolute certainty that in the papers of Raffaele Bendandi there is no provision for an earthquake in Rome on the 11 May 2011". Needless to say, Rome wasn't even ruffled by a tiny tremor on the day .... but oddly, in one of those coincidence that fuel these urban myths, the town of Lorca in Spain was hit by a large earthquake on the day.

So, be prepared for more such stories next year, as the same urban myth suggested two more such catastrophic events in May 2012.

Monsters Inc

The web is full of the marvellous, the stupid, the bizarre and the informative ..... in fact just about every folly that the human mind can think of, now holds its own little space on the web.

Today, instead of the conspiracy theorists, for whom I hold a little soft spot, I decided to illustrate another aspect of this world of the strange, which is best described by the cartographers of old nautical maps, who inscribed uncharted regions with the legend “Here Be Monsters.” Sometimes they would draw pictures of these fanciful beasts rising from the waters, and occasionally would even show them devouring wayward ships.

Well on the far side of the increasingly respectable world of cryptozoology, lurk the believers in monsters. These can range from Big Foot, Yetis, Big Cats in the UK, to devils skulls, faked giants bodies, insect men in Argentina, and finally through to 100 ft giant snakes in Borneo.

I make no apologies for posting a few photos which are openly posted on the web (but if any copy right infringed let me know and I will take that picture down) because although they are most certainly all fully explainable as 'natural', or fakes, they can be interesting in their own right!

The Strand Irish Giant 1895

This 'giant', from County Antrim, Ireland, was said to be 12ft 2in high. Its girth of chest was 6ft 6in, and length of arms 4ft 6in. There are six toes on the right foot. This fossilised body was on display in exhibitions in Dublin, Liverpool and Manchester. What later happened to the giant and its owner is unknown. (Photo from the British Strand magazine. Dec 1895).

 

Conspiracy Theories on the Web

The great beauty of the World Wide Web is the fact that every crackpot theory gets aired, and occasionally they develop life, and live long after they should have quietly excused themselves and left the room.

Conspiracy Theories Cover Every Aspect Of Human Life ...

The Islamic world for example has two main kinds of conspiracy theory doing the rounds: