Showing posts with label weird critters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weird critters. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Atmospheric Beasts
I was checking out a post today at the blog Whales in Space (the name reminds me of the scene from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy where a missile is turned into a sperm whale in the atmosphere of a planet, only to gain consciousness before it plummets to it's doom.) about a UFO that looked like a jellyfish that was seen in the UK, when suddenly I felt a massive shock inside my brain. Out of nowhere, a memory appeared, and I found myself thinking about giant jellyfish and other critters flying through the air, atmospheric beasts, or what I'll call atmo beasts for short.
Now the idea of atmo beasts has really been around quite awhile. Basically, their supposed to be large, somewhat normal looking animals, that just happen to be lighter then air. That of course means they can float, which they're able to achieve without any rum, and actually makes them seem quite odd, because well jellyfish are only supposed to be able to float in water. Bizarrely though, people in the past have reported such things.
An even freakier form of atmospheric beast appeared in Crawfordsville, Indiana in September of 1891. The creature was seen on two different days, and was seen by hundreds on the second one. Described as being 20 feet long and 8 feet wide, and propelling itself with sets of flippers, the image of an oriental style dragon, is almost conjured up.
So do such creatures exist in the upper atsmospehere of our planet? Who knows. You'd think with all the planes flying around, these things would be seen regulary. Of course seeing as you can't see into clouds, yet alone while in one (what do you think fog is?) perhaps they live in there. Or perhaps they're to blame for many UFOs that are seen as Ivan T. Sanderson, a famous researcher of the bizzare, theorized.
Sources and Further Reading:
The Cryptid Zoo: Atmospheric Beasts
Subversive Element: The Crawfordsville Monster
The Crawfordsville Monster - Wikipedia
Now the idea of atmo beasts has really been around quite awhile. Basically, their supposed to be large, somewhat normal looking animals, that just happen to be lighter then air. That of course means they can float, which they're able to achieve without any rum, and actually makes them seem quite odd, because well jellyfish are only supposed to be able to float in water. Bizarrely though, people in the past have reported such things.
An even freakier form of atmospheric beast appeared in Crawfordsville, Indiana in September of 1891. The creature was seen on two different days, and was seen by hundreds on the second one. Described as being 20 feet long and 8 feet wide, and propelling itself with sets of flippers, the image of an oriental style dragon, is almost conjured up.
So do such creatures exist in the upper atsmospehere of our planet? Who knows. You'd think with all the planes flying around, these things would be seen regulary. Of course seeing as you can't see into clouds, yet alone while in one (what do you think fog is?) perhaps they live in there. Or perhaps they're to blame for many UFOs that are seen as Ivan T. Sanderson, a famous researcher of the bizzare, theorized.
Sources and Further Reading:
The Cryptid Zoo: Atmospheric Beasts
Subversive Element: The Crawfordsville Monster
The Crawfordsville Monster - Wikipedia
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
A Thought on Reptoids
Using my mighty cognitive abilities I was able to deduce something today while watching some random bit of reptoid/dinosauroid (in case you forgot who they are here's a link to a previous post) info on youtube.
One of the many origin ideas toted around about the rumored race of reptilian overlords, is that they evolved from dinosaurs. A theory that was given more credence by the fact that a paleontologist actually thought that perhaps a certain species of dinosaur known as Troodon, would have evolved into a humanoid form if it had survived extinction.
Troodon you see was a member of the Maniraptora clade of dinosaurs, which were birdlike and even possesed feathers. Actually I believe birds are classfied as Maniraptora as well, however that may be wrong since I found that bit on wikipedia.
Anyways as I said, my cognitive powers gave me a bit of insight into the whole reptoid dinosaur origin idea; reptoids did not evolve from dinosaurs. Have you ever heard of a reptoid with feathers? I haven't. I've heard of them having wings, but dragon like ones as opposed to feathery bird like ones. Anyways lack of reptoid feathers means they're probably not dinosaurs.
Doing a Google search for reptoids with feathers I only come up with references to Quetzalcoatl who was some sort of Aztec God (As far as mythical Gods go, Odin is so much better. Sorry...a bit of Scandinavian/Germanic ancestry expressing itself...) serpent thing with feathers that apparently created man.
Now being the kind loving guy that I am, I figure I'll give the Earthly origins of reptoids another possibility. Maybe they are a type of evolved Maniraptora that somewhere along their evolutionary life lost their feathers, like humans got rid of their fur except that which is on our heads. Or perhaps they came from some even more primitive reptilian being from before the dinosaurs. After all many creatures before the dinosaurs were mammal like reptiles who were just as amazing as the dinosaurs and even modern day lifeforms.
Eh...who knows...although here's a video to make you all paranoid of the hidden reptilian presence...
One of the many origin ideas toted around about the rumored race of reptilian overlords, is that they evolved from dinosaurs. A theory that was given more credence by the fact that a paleontologist actually thought that perhaps a certain species of dinosaur known as Troodon, would have evolved into a humanoid form if it had survived extinction.
Troodon you see was a member of the Maniraptora clade of dinosaurs, which were birdlike and even possesed feathers. Actually I believe birds are classfied as Maniraptora as well, however that may be wrong since I found that bit on wikipedia.
Anyways as I said, my cognitive powers gave me a bit of insight into the whole reptoid dinosaur origin idea; reptoids did not evolve from dinosaurs. Have you ever heard of a reptoid with feathers? I haven't. I've heard of them having wings, but dragon like ones as opposed to feathery bird like ones. Anyways lack of reptoid feathers means they're probably not dinosaurs.
Doing a Google search for reptoids with feathers I only come up with references to Quetzalcoatl who was some sort of Aztec God (As far as mythical Gods go, Odin is so much better. Sorry...a bit of Scandinavian/Germanic ancestry expressing itself...) serpent thing with feathers that apparently created man.
Now being the kind loving guy that I am, I figure I'll give the Earthly origins of reptoids another possibility. Maybe they are a type of evolved Maniraptora that somewhere along their evolutionary life lost their feathers, like humans got rid of their fur except that which is on our heads. Or perhaps they came from some even more primitive reptilian being from before the dinosaurs. After all many creatures before the dinosaurs were mammal like reptiles who were just as amazing as the dinosaurs and even modern day lifeforms.
Eh...who knows...although here's a video to make you all paranoid of the hidden reptilian presence...
Monday, March 30, 2009
Mysterious Feline in Lincoln City
This wasn't originally what I was going to post today, but I figured I'd share it before the memory fades to the back of my mind again. It's also one of those experiences that unfortunately did not happen to me, so I can't substantiate much more then assuming that my family was telling me the truth.
About ten years ago we were staying at my grandparent's condo in Neskowin, OR, when my mom and my brother decided to take a trip into Lincoln City, just south of Neskowin on Interstate 101. Upon reaching the city, they took a short cut along NE E Devils Lake Rd, which goes along Devil's Lake obviously. Being a coastal community, this section of Lincoln City is only contains scattered houses and wilderness, the main part of the city being located almost mainly along Interstate 101.
Somewhere along their way to the factory outlet stores that lie on the other end of NE E Devils Lake Rd, my mom and brother saw what they took to be a mountain lion. There was one odd thing about it however. They described as being very dark, which may have been partly due to the amount of shade from the trees that hang over the road, but they insisted it was very dark and not just the shade.
From their description the only things I could figure was that it was either a large black dog that they thought was a large feline, or perhaps it was a mountain lion in in the shade. However, there are two other possibilities, which although unlikely may perhaps have been the case.
The first is that it was a melanistic (black) mountain lion. Interestingly, melanistic mountain lions, from what I understand, have yet to be confirmed as being real. That doesn't mean they don't exist, just that they have yet to find one to confirm they do. Unlike the mountain lion however, both jaguars and leopards have confirmed melanistic variants. That of course opens up the possibility that someone in the area happened to have a black leopard or jaguar for a pet (Last I checked, those guys aren't native to Oregon.) that managed to get loose.
Like I said however, I did not witness it, and for all I know, it may have nothing more then a average mountain lion or perhaps someone's black lab that got away. If it was indeed a lab or other type of dog, well my family needs to learn their animals.
About ten years ago we were staying at my grandparent's condo in Neskowin, OR, when my mom and my brother decided to take a trip into Lincoln City, just south of Neskowin on Interstate 101. Upon reaching the city, they took a short cut along NE E Devils Lake Rd, which goes along Devil's Lake obviously. Being a coastal community, this section of Lincoln City is only contains scattered houses and wilderness, the main part of the city being located almost mainly along Interstate 101.
Somewhere along their way to the factory outlet stores that lie on the other end of NE E Devils Lake Rd, my mom and brother saw what they took to be a mountain lion. There was one odd thing about it however. They described as being very dark, which may have been partly due to the amount of shade from the trees that hang over the road, but they insisted it was very dark and not just the shade.
From their description the only things I could figure was that it was either a large black dog that they thought was a large feline, or perhaps it was a mountain lion in in the shade. However, there are two other possibilities, which although unlikely may perhaps have been the case.
The first is that it was a melanistic (black) mountain lion. Interestingly, melanistic mountain lions, from what I understand, have yet to be confirmed as being real. That doesn't mean they don't exist, just that they have yet to find one to confirm they do. Unlike the mountain lion however, both jaguars and leopards have confirmed melanistic variants. That of course opens up the possibility that someone in the area happened to have a black leopard or jaguar for a pet (Last I checked, those guys aren't native to Oregon.) that managed to get loose.
Like I said however, I did not witness it, and for all I know, it may have nothing more then a average mountain lion or perhaps someone's black lab that got away. If it was indeed a lab or other type of dog, well my family needs to learn their animals.
Friday, January 9, 2009
A Monkey and man named Jack
Mass hysteria has been blamed for countless weird events over the centuries. Recently it was blamed for sightings of a “Monkey Man” in India, who apparently randomly attacked people over a period of a few days in May 2001. There were even confirmed animal bites by the 4ft to 5 1/2ft tall Monkey Man.
After a few days of panic caused by this Monkey Man, who was described as either a naked man sized monkey or a man sized monkey wearing a helmet and jumpsuit with glowing red eyes, no more reports came in. That is of course if you don't believe that he boarded a plane to Moscow. I doubt any sane Monkey Man would do that when he could have just as easily hopped over to neighboring Tibet to chill with the Dalia Lama. It's what I would've done, either way though, the authorities wrote it off as mass hysteria, case closed, except for two brief appearances in 2002 to keep his fans happy.
All monkey business aside however, a even more interesting case of possible mass hysteria spread through Victorian era England. Instead of a jumpsuit wearing helmeted monkey however this was a man, devil, or perhaps some dashingly brilliant scientist guy from the future trying to act out his steampunk fantasy. I am of course talking about the awesomely named Spring Heeled Jack.
Jack made his first appearance sometime in 1837 hopping over a cemetery wall, afterward landing in front a passer by who described him as appearing muscular and devil like.Later on in October, Spring Heeled Jack made his second appearance. Feeling a bit amorous Jack decided to accost a young woman. Immobilizing her, he began to kiss her neck and face while ripping her blouse and feeling her flesh with his claws that felt “cold and clammy as those of a corpse.”
He apparently enjoyed scaring the ladies, and continued with this activity. Also one for showing off, he would commonly leap in front of oncoming carriages when going after a victim. This of course caused even more chaos when he appeared, spooking the carriage drivers who would often wreck, while Jack jumped over or onto (the behavior that earned him his name) walls that were 9ft or higher, cackling like a true madman.
Another difference between India's monkey menace and Spring Heeled Jack was that Jack never fully disappeared. Sightings and encounters with Jack continued on into 1938 and even later, becoming even more bizarre as his presence remained. In two cases he even had flames coming out of his mouth, while wearing something that in this day and age would be considered “kinky”. He was also apparently bullet proof and to make things even crazier, the key suspect, the Marquis of Waterford, married and moved to Ireland, all while the sightings continued in England.
Eventually with all the media coverage, Jack became something of a folkloric character, as well as a villain and a hero in the Penny Dreadfuls, which were Victorian Era pulp fiction magazines. He was even used in place of the Devil in some plays at the time and was cited as a possible cause for the “Devil's Footprints” which appeared in Devon England. Eventually, just like the Monkey Man, he was written off as nothing more then mass hysteria, thanks in part to the media. However, on occasion, similar characters have made their appearance across the world, including Texas, Czechoslovakia, and of course in jolly old England.
Sources and Further Reading:
Monkey-man of New Delhi - Wikipedia
Monkey Man on CNN article 1 & article 2
Spring Heeled Jack - Wikipedia
Spring Heeled Jack - The Shadowlands
The Legend of Spring Heeled Jack - The Cobra's Nose
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