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...




Monday, October 15, 2012

ANDREW MAY: Words from the Wild Frontier

News and stories from the remoter fringes of the CFZ blogosphere...

From Nick Redfern's World of Whatever:
From CFZ Australia:

TODAY'S BIG CAT ROUND UP

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 should have a go at publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in. In September 2012 Emma Osborne decided that the Mystery Cat Study Group really deserved a blog of its own within the CFZ Blog Network.




Here is the latest tranche of news...



  • USA SIGHTING: Ohio, puma
  • NEWSLINK: Russian circus cheetah attacks boy
  • NEWSLINK: Indian Tiger Protection Force


  • CRYPTOLINK: Poole's Loch Ness Monster gone.. but for how long?



    Poole's Loch Ness Monster gone.. but for how long?Poole's Loch Ness Monster gone.. but for how long?
    NESSIE no longer lurks in Poole Park lake – but chances are she could be making a comeback.
    The prankster – or pranksters – involved even pushed a note through the Daily Echo’s Poole office to alert reporters.
    This note, written on the back of a paper bag, said: “There’s some sort of really big fish thing stuck in the model boating part of Poole Park Lake!”
    The lake’s own version of the Loch Ness monster was positioned just far enough out that it could not be removed without wading into the water. However, Nessie had become somewhat of a shipping hazard and was removed to make way for a meeting of Poole Model Yacht Club at the weekend.
    And her removal has since divided club members, says club commodore Peter Wiles.

    DALE DRINNON: Cedar & Willow/Benny's Blog

    New at Cedar And Willow:
    http://cedar-and-willow.blogspot.com/2012/10/dink-jill-darling-or-long-sheila-oz-1988.html

    And two of Benny's blogs that are associated with materials at Cedar And Willow:
    http://bennypdrinnon.blogspot.com/2012/10/connie-hines.html 

    HAUNTED SKIES: Times (The) 10.11.69.



    http://hauntedskies.blogspot.com/2012/10/times-101169.html

    CRYPTOLINK: Adult and Juvenile Sasquatch Footprints


    Bigfoot Evidence posted the following image on their website along with a few paragraphs of information about it. Apparently a hunter known on Facebook as Hardcore Outdoors found some strange human-like tracks near his campsite. The tracks measure thirteen inches long, which to Bigfoot standards is fairly small. The obviously interesting part of this photograph is the smaller, child-size footprint next to it. Notice the deep impression that the bigger print left in the mud.

    I'M YER GONZO BLOG DOO DAH MAN

    And so another working week begins. Graham and I are off to Southampton tomorrow to film Jefferson Starship and Auburn, and we have a month-long exhibition starting at Barnstaple Museum on saturday. There are all sorts of exciting things happening behind the scenes, and any hopes that I once had that this wintter would be a nice, quiet, relaxing one, are rapidly going out of the window...

    The other day when I was talking to Liz Lenten, she told me how Jefferson Starship had called her onstage at Edinburgh to join them singing 'Volunteers'. Now, usually there is a noo-bootleg rule here on Gonzo Daily, but I found this clip on YouTube, and all the rules went out the window.

    One generation got old 
    One generation got soul 

    I also found this peculiar film clip of Rick Wakeman arriving at a venue in New Zealand, which I am reposting for its curiosity value..

    Part two of our massive interview with Helen McCookerybook...

    Rolling Stones week at the Gonzo Daily continues with a look at the new DVD from Chrome Dreams, courtesy of Rob Johnstone.

    If God can sing, (s)he has a voice like Scott Walker. The maestro has another album in the works and we have a preview from those jolly nice folks at 4AD..

    A link to a very candid conversation with Michael Des Barres.

    Our daily visit to the work of Thom the World Poet

    Also on the subject of Thom, here is something he wrote to me after I enhanced his poem about Malala Yousufzai with images and weblinks. I also post the latest news on this brave child.

    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 Editor is an old hippy of 53 who - together with his orange cat - puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon. He is ably assisted by his lovely wife Corinna, his bulldog/boxer Prudence, and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we mention the orange cat?

    WATCHER OF THE SKIES: Today's Fortean bird news

    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. So, after about six months of regular postings on the main bloggo, Corinna has taken the plunge and started a 'Watcher of the Skies' blog of her own as part of the CFZ Bloggo Network.




    OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today



    On this day in 1888 the “From Hell” letter likely written by the person responsible for the Jack the Ripper killings was posted to George Lusk, along with a human kidney (the same kidney that had been missing from the latest victim, Catherine Eddowes). To my mind the fact that the letter was posted to George Lusk who was really just a bit of a nobody trying to make a name for himself in the community by heading up the vigilance committee (which was all piss and vinegar and failed to have any impact on the killings at all) rather than the police or the press, and the fact that Lusk apparently delayed in informing anyone when he revived this crucial bit of evidence speaks volumes. There is thanks to this incident more circumstantial evidence for saying Lusk was the ripper than most of the other suspects, including some of the really popular ones, yet for some reason most Ripperologists dismiss him as a suspect off-hand.
    And now the news:
    Jack The Ripper by Screaming Lord Sutch (who went on to become the most respected and honest politician in UK history, but was sadly never elected to parliament) :