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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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Thursday, December 09, 2010

..AND I THOUGHT THAT THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND WAS GETTING CRASS (and not in a good way)

Deer escapes church nativity scene


Published: Dec. 8, 2010 at 2:42 PM
LAKELAND, Fla., Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Police in Florida said a deer named Rudolph escaped from a church nativity scene and was seen running around the area.


Lakeland police said they received a call from a resident at 5:50 a.m. about a deer running around his property and they quickly determined it was Rudolph, nicknamed Rudy, a muntjac deer portraying a reindeer in the Highland Park Church of the Nazarene nativity scene, the Orlando Sentinel reported Wednesday.


WATCH the video from Central Florida News 13



Sgt. Terri Smith said church personnel chased the deer around the property and it was eventually captured while hiding under the church's elf house in its Bethlehem Village area. Ken Suarez, the deer's owner, said he brought the animal home after the incident.


ODD PHOTOS: Deer found in Tree



The church said many other live animals remain in the display, which will be opened to the public from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

MIKE HALLOWELL: The Ghost Cat of the Grotto

A couple of weeks ago I received an e-mail from a journalist on a local paper I column for, attached to which was an e-mail the paper had received from an old colleague of mine. I'd not seen Billy for years, not since we both worked together in the Crime Prevention Department of Northumbria Police (E Division).

Billy had no direct way of contacting me and hence, penned his epistle for my attention to the journalist concerned. Billy wanted to know if I was attending a “ghost hunt” at the legendary Marsden Grotto Inn, a strange pub in a cave that nestles at the base of a large cliff at Tyneside's Marsden Bay. Both Marsden Bay and the Grotto Inn are known to myself, Jon Downes and Richie Freeman. Jon and Richie visited the pub years ago when we were filming a documentary entitled Anatomy of a Haunting. The documentary was the work of filmmaker Gary Wilkinson, and concerned the wide range of bizarre phenomena that take place in the vicinity. I wrote the script and did some of the presenting, whilst Jon and Richie did a very spooky intro.

Later, I went on to write an entire book about the pub (The House That Jack Built: Amberley Publishing, 2008), and I've taken part in no less than five documentaries about the place and penned over twenty articles and columns on the same subject. Hence, I was intrigued about the forthcoming ghost hunt.

I telephoned Billy and we spent at least half an hour catching up on old times. I confessed to him that I knew nothing about the forthcoming event, and normally didn't have much enthusiasm for this sort of thing, but if it was taking place at the Grotto then I might be persuaded. I then rang the chap who had organised it and he said he'd be delighted if I'd go along and perhaps help inform those in attendance about the history of the place and some of the odd characters who had been associated with it over the centuries.

Then the event took place, and I watched with fascination as thirty enthusiasts not only hunted for the Grotto ghosts but also attempted to make contact with them via ouija boards and sundry other means.

But it was during a break in the proceedings when my curiosity was truly heightened. A cameraman was filming me as I moved from location to location and in between shots we found ourselves standing by the main entrance, which leads out onto the patio outside. The cameraman suddenly turned and looked down towards the ground, obviously distracted by something.

“That's weird,” he said, “I've just felt a cat brush against my legs, but there's nothing there...”

I must confess I was delighted, for I wondered if the legendary Grotto Ghost Cat (GGC) was back.

The Grotto Ghost Cat first appeared, to my knowledge, in the mid 60s when patrons playing the “one-armed bandits” reported having the same sensation as the cameraman: the unmistakeable feeling that a cat had just brushed against their legs. What intrigued me more was the fact that the gambling machines used to stand only six feet away from where we were standing now.

Occasionally drinkers in the Grotto would not only feel the cat's presence but actually see it. It was invariably described as black and white, although a couple of witnesses have also seen a completely black cat, so maybe there are two Grotto Ghost Cats.


The first witness I ever interviewed who had actually seen the GGC was the former landlord of the Grotto, Nick Garvey. Not long after taking over the pub, Nick spotted a cat in the kitchen. He said it looked “large as life” (a weird expression, for to my knowledge you don't lose height when you're dead) and tried to catch it, as he didn't want a run-in with the local council's health and safety people. He bent down and tried to pick it up, but was astonished to find that his hands just passed straight through it. The phantom cat then simply walked through a nearby refrigerator and disappeared.

I've actually been in the Grotto when other patrons have complained to the manager about “that cat in the bar” but when the landlord investigates it has inevitably disappeared into the ether.

There's no doubt that a spectral cat of some kind haunts (if that's the word) this old public house. However, is it a ghost or some kind of zooform cryptid? Its hard to say, to be honest. In some respects it acts like a conventional, run-of-the-mill ghost (if there is such a thing) but one or two incidents make me wonder. In November 2000 a witness who saw the GGC claimed it had “bright, glowing red eyes”, and others have heard it “meaowing”. Another witness I interviewed said that as the GGC leaped from a table onto the floor it seemed to change shape. Maybe it is a cryptid off sorts, then.

I've been told that someone has a photograph of the GGC, and I'm going to try and track it down. If I'm successful, I'll post it here, so watch this space....

MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: SHARK EXHIBITED IN MANCHESTER 1798/INTRODUCING COPAC

The other day I went to the local studies libraries and came up with one or two items of interest, including this story of some kind of shark (?) caught off Devon [which I know will please the Dear Leader-R] and later exhibited at Hanging Ditch, which is presumably the same district between Victoria St and Corporation St, Manchester.

Just Arrived Here
And to be Seen in the Front Room, at the Admiral Duncan, Hanging Ditch
A very large and remarkable Fish, which was caught Near Exmouth,Devonshire Of the Carnivorous Kind, called
The MAN EATER

His length is 8 feet,5 feet round,has 14 rows of teeth, and 5 ribs on each side,like a Man, one fin on each side,and one on the back 18 inches long, 4 fins under the belly and near the tail,of different lengths, one fork of the tail 3 inches longer than the than the other and full of joints, the other fork has none.

This fish is allowed, by all who have seen it, to be the greatest Natural Curiosity ever yet exhibited: it has never been described in Natural History, and may be very properly classed as a “ NON DESCRIPT.”

N.B. It is soon to be made a present to the Duke of Devonshire.
There are also several other Natural Curiosities in the Room.

I am interested in such reports as pieces of social history and I love the hyperbole.

Now, concerning COPAC. COPAC is a search tool covering specialist, university libraries, etc, libraries in the U.K. and Ireland, which I came across about a year ago but haven`t used it till now. Go into Google and type in COPAC. A screen will come up giving the details of the site as usual. Then click on the green box, (search without logging in) then type in say `Wild cat in Ireland` in the Keyword space and 34 hits come up, including art and fiction. Altogether a good facility.

1. Bulletin of the Saddleworth Historical Society vol 5 no. 1 Spring 1975 p.10 citing Manchester Mercury 8th May 1798

A Cryptozoologist`s Twelve Days of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me, A Flying Snake in a Pear tree


On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me, Two Irish Wild Cats and a Flying Snake in a Pear tree

On the third day of Christmas my true love sent to me, Three living Mammoths, two Irish Wild Cat and a Flying Snake in a Pear Tree

On the Fourth Day of Christmas my true love sent to me, Four moa birds,three living mammoths, two Irish Wild Cats, and a Flying Snake in a Pear Tree

On the Fifth Day of Christmas my true love sent to me, Five Beached sea ser-pents, Four moa birds, three living mammoths, two Irish Wild Cats, and a Flying Snake in a Pear Tree

On the Sixth Day of Christmas my true love sent to me, Six luminous owls a-laying, five beached sea ser-pents, four moa birds, three living mammoths, two Irish Wild Cats, and a Flying Snakes in a Pear Tree.

On the Seventh Day of Christmas my true love sent to me, seven megamouth sharks a swimming, Six luminous owls a-laying, five beached sea ser-pents, four moa birds, three living mammoths, two Irish Wild Cats, and a Flying Snake in a Pear Tree

On the Eight Day of Christmas my true love sent to me, eight aurochs a milking, Seven megamouth sharks a swimming, six luminous owls a-laying, five beached sea ser-pents, four moa birds, three living mammoths, two Irish Wild Cats, and a Flying Snake in a Pear Tree

On the Ninth Day of Christmas my true love sent to me, nine blue spiders dancing Eight aurochs a milking, seven megamouth sharks a swimming, six luminous owls a-laying, five beached sea ser-pents, four moa birds, three living mammoths, Two Irish Wild Cats, and a Flying Snake in a Pear Tree

On the Tenth Day of Christmas my true love sent to me, ten Hong Kong mystery seals a-leaping, nine blue spiders dancing, Eight aurochs a milking, seven megamouth sharks a swimming, six luminous owls a-laying, five beached sea-serpents, four moa birds, three living mammoths, Two Irish Wild Cats, and a Flying Snake in a Pear Tree

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas my true love sent to me, eleven Orang Pendeks piping, Ten Hong Kong mystery seals a-leaping, nine blue spiders dancing, eight aurochs a milking, seven megamouth sharks a swimming, six luminous owls a-laying, five beached sea-serpents, Four moa birds, three living mammoths, two Irish Wild Cats and a Flying Snake in a Pear Tree

On the Twelth Day of Christmas my true love sent to me,Twelve Blue Dogs drumming, Eleven Orang Pendeks piping, ten Hong Kong mystery seals a-leaping, nine blue spiders dancing, eight aurochs a milking, seven megamouth sharks a swimming, Six luminous owls a-laying, five beached sea ser-pents, four moa birds, three living mammoths, two Irish Wild Cats and a Flying Snake in a Pear Tree.

© Richard Muirhead

NEW CBD APPEAL

Center for Biological Diversity


Dear Richard,


Stop the war on wolves
and endangered species.
Help save them today.

Under the direction of Secretary Ken Salazar, the Department of the Interior is ramping up its war against endangered species.

In the last month alone, the Interior Department denied protection to 251 of America's most imperiled species, promised to strip federal protection from grizzly bears, and -- for the first time in the 40-year history of the Endangered Species Act -- asked Congress to overrule scientists, the courts and the law itself by passing legislation to strip federal protection from gray wolves.

Please help the Center for Biological Diversity stop Salazar's war against endangered species by donating generously to our Endangered Species Action Fund today.

A generous donor will triple any amount received by December 31, so it's the best time to give as generously as you can.


Between Salazar and the new Congress, we're facing the most aggressive assault on endangered species since the infamous days of Richard Pombo. But with your help, we can beat back the assault.

The Pacific fisher, Rio Grande cutthroat trout, sage grouse and New England cottontail rabbit are all spiraling toward extinction. And they're not alone. Federal scientists have identified 251 species that will disappear unless they're soon protected under the Endangered Species Act. Yet with a cynical stroke of a pen, the Interior Department just refused to protect any of these species, saying it's working on “higher priorities.”

What are the Interior Department's higher priorities?

- Asking politicians to overrule federal judges and the law by passing a bill to create an open season on wolves by removing their Endangered Species Act protections. Not even President Bush or President Reagan went this far.
- Approving new offshore oil drilling smack in the middle of the polar bear's protected critical habitat on Alaska's North Slope.
- Following the Bush-era lead in suppressing science and denying protection to the imperiled Sacramento splittail and Arizona desert-nesting bald eagle.

The Center will stop these attacks and save all 251 endangered species, but we can only do so with your financial help by the end of this year. Please donate as much as you can today to our special Endangered Species Action Fund.

The Center has the best success rate in the environmental movement, winning 93 percent of our cases.

With a no-nonsense attitude and a relentless passion for wildlife, our scientists, lawyers and activists work around the clock to win protections. Helping them this year-end is the best investment you can make to save our planet.

Thanks in advance for your support,

KierĂ¡n Suckling
Executive Director
Center for Biological Diversity
P.S. A very generous donor has pledged to triple any gifts to our Endangered Species Action Fund received by December 31, so please give as generously as you can. This is a remarkable opportunity to increase the power of your giving and save wolves, bears and sage grouse at the same time.

P.P.S. Here's an excerpt from a recent story about Salazar's anti-endangered-species agenda:

Critics say Obama administration is lagging on protecting endangered species
Los Angeles Times // November 29, 2010

WASHINGTON - Environmental groups are criticizing the Obama administration for what they say is a continuing backlog of plants and animals in need of protection under the Endangered Species Act.

The Fish and Wildlife Service says 251 species are candidates for endangered species protection, four more than a similar review last year found.

Environmental groups say that shows the Obama administration has done little to improve on what they consider a dismal record on endangered species under President George W. Bush.

Nearly two years after taking office, Obama has provided Endangered Species Act protection to 51 plants and animals, an average of 25 a year. By comparison, the Clinton administration protected an average of 65 species per year, and the Bush administration listed about eight species a year.

"Like the Bush administration, the Obama administration is failing to provide prompt protection to wildlife desperately in need of protection," including the plains bison, sage grouse and hundreds of other species, said Noah Greenwald, endangered species program director at the Center for Biological Diversity, an Arizona-based group that has filed lawsuits seeking greater protection for those and other species.

Greenwald said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has failed to correct a longtime "culture of delay and foot-dragging" at the Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees the endangered species program....

Many of the species listed as candidates for protection have been waiting for such a designation for decades, including the Oregon spotted frog, found in three West Coast states, and the eastern massasauga rattlesnake, found in nine Midwest and Great Lakes states. The frog has been a candidate for the endangered species list since 1991, the snake since 1982....

At least 24 species have gone extinct after being designated as a candidate for protection, including the Louisiana prairie vole, Tacoma pocket gopher, San Gabriel Mountains blue butterfly, Sangre de Cristo peaclam from New Mexico and numerous Hawaiian invertebrates....




Mexican gray wolf photo (c) Robin Silver.

This message was sent to richard@cfz.org.uk.

When donating online to the Center for Biological Diversity, always confirm that the donation page is located at DemocracyinAction.org or BiologicalDiversity.org.

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Center for Biological Diversity

P.O. Box 710

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www.BiologicalDiversity.org

KARL SHUKER: When Ogopogo was going for a song..

http://karlshuker.blogspot.com/2010/12/when-ogopogo-was-going-for-song.html

FROM UFO MATRIX: Andy's last book reviewed



OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

On this day in 1907 1000 medical students clashed with 400 policemen over a statue of a little brown dog in Battersea, London, UK. The Brown Dog Affair is a bit too complex and convoluted for me to do justice in this little blog so if you want to know more follow this link (AFTER you have read the rest of today’s postings and the Fortean zoology news, though) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Dog_affair. And now, the news:

Argentina: Family Faces the Dreaded Chupacabras
Albino kookaburras found in northern Australia (vi...
Sea Lion Found At School, Miles From Water
Bizarre hairy fly is rediscovered
'Left-handed' coiling snails survive more snake at...
Rat in curry prompts cull at Bangladeshi universit...
Giant fossil bird found on 'hobbit' island of Flor...

Yes, every time hobbits are mentioned in the news this happens:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC73PHdQX04