Mac was a very good friend of mine; and like all his friends I was shocked to the core when he passed away suddenly and tragically in October 2009, at the age of only 34.

But, I am pleased to say, Mac’s latest – and, inevitably, final – piece of work ensures that his memory, legacy and ability to think outside of the conventional ufological box will live on. That work is The Cryptoterrestrials: A Meditation on Indigenous Humanoids and the Aliens Among Us.

Like Vallee and Keel, Mac rightly recognized that UFO encounters could not be dismissed as the ravings of lunatics, the tales of the fantasy-prone, or the lies of those seeking fame and fortune. But, he was also careful not to get sucked into the near-viral mindset that practically screams (take a deep breath): UFOs = alien spaceships piloted by little gray chaps from across the galaxy, who are on a mission to save their dying race by stealing our DNA, eggs and sperm.

Rather, Mac – right up until the time of his death – was chasing down the theory suggesting that the UFOnauts may actually represent the last vestiges of a very ancient race of distinctly terrestrial origins; a race that – tens of thousands of years ago may have ruled our planet, but whose position of power was thrown into overwhelming chaos by two things: (A) the appearance of a “debilitating genetic syndrome” that ravaged their society; and (B) the rising infestation of a violent species that threatened to eclipse – in number – their own society.

They are the Cryptoterrestrials. And that violent species that blusters around like an insane, unruly and spoiled child, and that has done more damage in its short life-time than can ever be truly imagined, is, of course, us.

Along with the photos sent to Downes (which can be viewed at his blog), Paula provides the following information:

1) One bite from a snake this large contains enough venom to kill over 40 full grown men.
2) The head alone is larger than the hand of a normal sized man.
3) This snake was probably alive when George H. W. Bush was President.
4) A bite from those fangs would equal being penetrated by two 1/4 inch screwdrivers.
5) A snake this size could easily swallow a 2 year-old child.
6) A snake this size has an approximately 5 and 1/2 foot accurate striking distance.
7) Judging by the size of the snake, it is estimated to weigh over 170 pounds. How much do you weigh?

Having been raised with a lot of outdoor activities growing up, over time I’ve learned to respect all wild animals I’ve encountered in the forests, which range from bobcats and black bears to this fellow’s close (and much smaller) cousins seen in the Appalachian Mountains. Rest assured, I wouldn’t be looking forward to hiking as much if I thought there were a lot of snakes out there that were this size!

Editor’s Note: Downes notes that this image has not been verified by photographic experts as of posting this, and several viewers have commented that it may be a hoax using forced perspective. However, based on the photos, it does appear to show an extremely large snake, regardless of the measurements provided with the photos.

This is one of a handful of reports of encounters passed down over the years that deal with strange, anthropomorphic lizard-like “people.” Arguably, the most famous of all “Lizard Man” reports deals with what was called “The Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp,” a strange creature witnessed around the town of Bishopville, South Carolina, as well as various other swampy locales throughout the surrounding Lee County in the 1980s. However, earlier reports of lizard-like humanoids exist which (surprisingly) date all the way back to 1878! Have these “creatures” from the fringes of reality existed alongside us for longer than we realize?

Blogger J.S. Holland of the website LousivilleMojo.com shared the following strange account with his readers late last month:

In the October 28, 1878 issue of the Courier-Journal, there was a peculiar story of a “Wild Man of the Woods” being captured somewhere in the wilderness of Kentucky – they didn’t specify where exactly – and placed on public display in downtown Louisville for the public to gawk it.

The mysterious humanoid creature was said by eyewitness accounts to be over six feet tall, and possessing eyes twice as large as a human’s. Try to picture that for just a moment – pretty horrifying if you think about it.

What intrigues me most of all about the sketchy details of this Courier-Journal news report, though, is that the monster-man in question purportedly had scales instead of skin.

Indeed, many of the late nineteenth century reports of this sort were often either confabulation on the part of tall-tale-tellers, or even silliness dredged up by the journalists of the day when local news was less than worthy of reporting, and they were struggling to compete with other area dailies–hence the “creation” of the occasional Tom Foolery (just ask Mark Twain).

Nonetheless, within a century of the reports of a “scaly wild man” in Louisville, a different kind of scaly critter would turn up a little further east in Loveland, Ohio. First witnessed in 1955 by an area businessman, the report entailed the appearance of three or four three-foot-tall humanoids with frog-like faces gathered together beneath a bridge. One element pertaining to this encounter that provides a slightly more UFO-oriented air dealt with a strange object one of the creatures had been wielding, which emitted sparks, according to the witness. Again in 1972 a frog-like “man” was witnessed by several area police officers on two occasions early in the morning near the Little Miami River. One officer, Mark Mathews, managed to fire of a shot at the creature as it fled the scene. He described it as being “three to four feet tall, 50 to 75 pounds, leathery skin, possibly wet – matted hair on its body that made it look textured, possible tail, a head and face like a frog or lizard, and could leap over the roads’ guard rail.” The same year, an encounter occurred at Thetis Lake, British Columbia, involving a monster resembling “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” that prompted an official investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Later, Russell Van Nice, who had been present among the original witnesses to the encounter claimed “it was just a big lie,” accusing his friend, Mike Gold, of “trying to get attention,” and calling him a “habitual liar.”

Finally, following our chronology of Lizard Men that appear in various locales, Bishopville SC’s creature differed from the diminutive “Loveland Frogs” particularly in size; reportedly seven feet tall and more aggressive than its Northern kin, the most famous account was reported by then-teenager Christopher Davis:

I looked back and saw something running across the field towards me. It was about 25 yards away and I saw red eyes glowing. I ran into the car and as I locked it, the thing grabbed the door handle. I could see him from the neck down – the three big fingers, long black nails and green rough skin. It was strong and angry. I looked in my mirror and saw a blur of green running. I could see his toes and then he jumped on the roof of my car. I thought I heard a grunt and then I could see his fingers through the front windshield, where they curled around on the roof. I sped up and swerved to shake the creature off.

The creature was seen several more times following Davis’ sighting before it sank back into the waters of Scape Ore Swamp again, returning to the fringes of obscurity. Occasionally, there are still reports of Lizard Men in the area; in October 2005, a woman in the nearby town of Newberry phoned police to warn them she had “seen two creatures resembling the Lizard Man outside her home.” Responding officer Michael Kennedy merely told the woman that “(they) just like to check on humans from time to time.”

If something as fantastic and implausible as the existence of reptilians in our midst could have any fact to it, how do these creatures manage to elude us so easily? Can we suspend our judgment long enough to consider the variables, or is it better to doubt their existence altogether? The reports persist–though infrequently–and the mystery surrounding alleged encounters with non-human entities of this world will no doubt continue to thrive, just as these strange, scaly watchers in the darkness may have been able to do for so long.

David and Rhys are great guys, and on this week’s edition they caught up with me to discuss “Sasquatch Language”:

Micah A. Hanks on “The Cryptid Factor”

Also, be sure and tune in to next week’s program as well, in which I was invited back to discuss giant deep-sea monstrosities and the enigmatic “Bloop” noise. Hopefully there will be other future appearances as well, since these guys have a very entertaining (and light-hearted) show. Don’t miss it!

Back in late 2005, I traveled to Puerto Rico with good friend, Canadian Paul Kimball of Red Star Films, and his crew, which consisted of Paul’s brother Jim, John Rosborough, and Findlay Muir. The purpose of the week-long trek was to make a film – road-trip-style – that would see me and Puerto Rican Orlando Pla (a local expert on the beast) on a quest for the truth about the monstrous thing said to be roaming the island: namely, the Chupacabras.

Well, I’m pleased to say, the production – titled Island of Blood – is now available as a 3-part installment, which you can find at the link below this email. Enjoy… or be very afraid!

And as Paul himself says: “It’s always fun when I have a new film that premieres, and today is no exception. This time it’s not on television (although it will probably wind up there in one form or another at some point), or in the theater, or the other usual media – nope, this time it’s right here, free of charge, direct to you. The Island of Blood is a low budget, lo-fi, slightly tongue-in-cheek, mostly serious look at the chupacabra phenomonon in Puerto Rico with my good pal Nick Redfern and Puerto Rican researcher Orlando Pla. It also features interviews with real witnesses, and an official government investigator of the phenomenon.”

Click here to visit Nick’s blog on “The Island of Blood”

Watch CBS News Videos Online

The Garcia family of Horizon City says they were shocked to see 30 of their animals turn up dead overnight earlier this week. After looking at how they were killed, the only explanation they have is the Chupacabra.

The strange bite marks present on the dead farm animals seems to indicate two sharp fangs used to bite and suck blood from the creatures. Upon noticing the two-pronged bite marks, the Garcias said “The first thing that came to our head was the Chupacabras.”

Early reports of the Chupacabra in the Western world date back to a rash of reports from Puerto Rico in 1995, during which the classic “symptoms” of an alleged Chupacabra residence came to the attention of the mass media. However, the strange case of “The Vampire of Moca,” in which strange animal slayings of farm animals occurred in the Puerto Rican town of Moca in 1875, may actually predate the now-famous 1995 reports. Still, reports of “vampires” in the folklore of Latin American countries date back several centuries, and modern Ufologists have considered whether such reports might have some factual basis in the existing mythology surrounding what is now called the Chupacabra.

Most recently, the Chupacabra has made headlines after a series of dogs and coyotes suffering from mange and other skin diseases have contributed to reports of “hairless dogs,” often equated with reptiles for their hairless appearance, a number of which have been discovered dead. In nearly every circumstance, evidence strongly suggests that the creatures were merely canines suffering from various ailments.

Still, the earliest reports of alleged “Chupacabras” detail monkey-like, green-skinned (or scaled) creatures with glowing eyes, frills running the length of the spine, and even “bat-like wings” in a few reports. The question, it seems, lies in when exactly the cultural perception of these proposed mystery beasts began to equate their appearance with canines, rather than the traditional alien-like creatures that early encounters detail. Does this indicate that there is an overt cultural aspect to interpretation of what are reported as Chupacabra attacks and encounters? Or, on the other hand, does it merely mean that early reports of Chupacabras differ so greatly from those reported in the last two-to-four years because the “canine” creatures being discussed aren’t actually a match for “true Chupacabras”–whatever they may actually be?

The Loch has long been the alleged home of one of the world’s greatest cryptozoological mysteries. Reports of Nessie, a plesiosaurian-monstrosity from pre-history, date all the way back to the seventh century, when Saint Columba, an Irish Monk, came to learn of a “water monster” in the nearby River Ness that had killed a man swimming across. In a display of Christian faith, Columba sent one of his own traveling companions into the waters, who was soon pursued by the creature as well. Making the sign of the cross, Columba ordered the monster not to harm the man, and the creature withdrew, submerging into the waters.

Now, in an article that appeared in the UK’s Daily Record, the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club president Gary Campbell has said sightings are becoming increasingly rare, and that he and the club members “would have been really, really worried,” had it not been for a single “credible” sighting in June 2009. “We were so relieved to have heard about this sighting,” says Campbell, who fears that if people begin to believe that Nessie might be sleeping with the fishes, tourism to the area could be affected. But is it really time to start playing funeral dirges, or are some of the experts who suggest Nessie’s untimely demise merely jumping the gun?

Part of what has caused so much controversy regarding the alleged “death” of Nessie has to do with a recent episode of History Channel’s series Monster Quest, titled “Death At Loch Ness.” Near the conclusion, footage was aired of a large mass lying on the bottom of the Loch, billed as “Nessie’s carcass.” Cambell, nonetheless, is hopeful, and says, “Unknown sonar contacts happen all the time. Maybe Nessie is just keeping her head down.”

The typical problem with the “Nessie is dead” argument is pretty simple: it assumes that there was only a single creature, apparently having lived in the Loch for centuries. If this were the case, what about her ancestry? Obviously, there would have had to be others like her at some point, and presumably, at some point we might assume Nessie begat little others of her own. Granted, this is a fairly simplistic argument being made, and virtually any genuine scientific inquiry made into the existence of an alleged monster in Loch Ness has dealt with the alleged existence of an entire species, rather than a single, unique creature that magically “appeared” at some point, and has existed for several hundreds of years. However, in spite of many of the points presented here, there are a surprising number of variables which could be taken into consideration that are worthy of further probing, as they pertain to the monster’s lifestyle, behavior, and even the plausibility of a “single creature hypothesis” being (albeit strangely) somewhat valid.

First, regarding Nessie’s age, there is at least one species known to exist in the Loch that actually has a potential lifespan that may exceed more than two centuries. Sturgeons, the “Leviathans” of the Chordata Phylum, are immense, toothless fish that somewhat resemble sharks. Bearing strange features such as barbells, a series of small whisker-like protrusions around the front of the mouth used to drag through mud on river bottoms, the mostly bottom-feeding creatures are among the oldest families of bony fish that exist. Most sturgeon have an average lifespan of a century; this alone is surprising, however, observations made in Russia of the Hausen beluga sturgeons have shown that the species can actually live up to 210 years! Due to the immensity of their size (some weighing more than a ton), as well as their longevity, sturgeons in the Loch have long been considered a possible identity for Nessie.

And yet, this might seem entirely plausible, if not for those early accounts dating back to 1933 that dealt with a long necked creature which, surprisingly, was most often spotted on land, rather than in water. Consider the July 22, 1933 encounter Mr. George Spicer and his wife had with ‘a most extraordinary form of animal’ they witnessed crossing the road in front of their car. The animal they described was a creature with a large body 25 feet in length and a long, narrow neck resembling an elephant’s trunk. This long neck would obviously be one of the most striking features pertaining to the animal, which the Spicers said “had a number of undulations in it.” The monster “lurched across the road towards the loch 20 yards away, leaving only a trail of broken undergrowth in its wake.”

ABOVE: Could this be the creature the Spicers witnessed in July of 1933? Image Courtesy of Nobu Tamura.

According to another account that surfaced, having taken place almost two months earlier, Nessie was observed on land for close to twenty minutes by a maidservant at approximately 6:30 in the morning. The young woman, Margaret Munro, claimed she spotted it on shore from a distance of around 200 yards, reporting tough, elephant-like skin, a small head atop a long neck, and two front “flippers.” After close to twenty minutes, Munro said the creature re-entered the water.

Then in August that same year a motorcyclist, Arthur Grant, described a close encounter with a nearly identical creature as he rode toward Abriachan on the northeast shore of the Loch. Grant detailed the same long neck with a small head; visible clearly in the light of the full moon, and claimed to have stopped his bike to pursue the creature on foot as it moved back toward the water’s edge. Some allegations have been made over the years that the story had actually been a humorous spin on Grant wrecking his cycle, which borrowed elements from the Spicer’s story in fabricating an excuse for the incident.

The accounts listed above comprise what were some of the best-known of reports of a Loch Ness Monster of the day, and interestingly, additional land sightings would follow, leading up to the 1960s when more films began showing some creature moving through the water (excepting one film made in 1938 by G.E. Taylor of South Africa). The most famous of the lake films, arguably, was one made by Tim Dinsdale in 1960, which three decades later would be enhanced digitally, showing what some purported to be a plesiosaur-like body beneath the water. However, this notion was refuted by some, calling to question whether the perception of a long-necked dinosaur-like creature might have stemmed from a now firmly-ingrained residual image of “Nessie” based on the early land-reports of the creature. And that’s just it: what caused so many “land” sightings prior to the 1960s, as opposed to the modern era, when the most we seem to be able to hope for involves “anomalous sonar bloops?”

In terms of the biology of Nessie, a variety of arguments and counter arguments have appeared over the years. Many paleontologists would argue that, if Nessie were descended from dinosaurs like plesiosaurs, Loch Ness would not be an environment very conducive to survival. Also, the osteology of plesiosaur necks, according to recent studies, say the creatures couldn’t have lifted their heads out of the water in swan-like movements, as Nessie was once often reported to do. In addition to common theories involving seals, otters, stumps, and even the bizarre notion of travelling circuses stopping to allow elephants to refresh themselves in the Loch, stranger warps and misshapings of fauna included the “long-necked seal hypothesis,” as well as the particularly peculiar “giant Tully monster theory” have been proposed over the years. Biologist Roy Mackal gave his best endorsement to the similar idea that Nessie was a giant, long-necked newt or other amphibian of some sort.

But there is a final possibility (though little credibility can be scientifically linked to this). “Seeding” is a strange set of circumstances referred to by cryptozoologists on occasion, which refers to the way strange animal sightings are even reported in land-locked lakes of human origin. For instance, rumors have circulated for years regarding a strange “monster” seen in the waters of Lake Norman, a man-made lake near Charlotte, North Carolina. The late cryptozoologist Mike McCurry of High Point, North Carolina, once noted that the notion of “seeding”—that is, the strange, spontaneous appearances of animals—might have to do with such reports of “monsters” seen in such bodies of water.

This seems to be equivalent, in some regard, to tulpoidal phenomenon. “Tulpa” is a Tibetan word that refers specifically to the spiritualist concept of a “thought form,” in that the human mind may be capable of building physical manifestations (or, at very least, perceived physical manifestations) through the accumulation of focused intent and projected thought. UFOs have been commonly associated with such activity, namely by psychologist Carl Jung in his book Flying Saucers: a Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies. When looking at the centuries of stories associating a monster with the waters of Loch Ness, it might stand to reason that some strange element of the existence of the creature throughout the ages was contingent upon belief systems of those perceiving the phenomenon itself, a theory proposed in the early works of those like Loren Coleman and Jerome Clark in their book The Unidentified (as I understand it, Coleman rebukes these early theories to some degree, but his early works on this subject have nonetheless been reprinted to help document the evolution of thought and inquiry pertaining to the study of mystery beasts, to which no man has contributed more in the last several decades than Coleman himself). Considering the way that human perception of strange phenomenon, in many ways, seems to depend on “the eye of the beholder,” one must again consider why most early reports of Nessie dealt with seeing her basking in the moonlight (or occasionally early sunlight) a good ways inland; by the 1960s, we were seeing her exclusively in the water. Now, if reports are accurate (and if all presumed witnesses are coming forward with stories) we’re seeing her less and less. Is there any kind of a correlation here? If so, what would it entail?

If we are ever to consider a plausible theory for Nessie’s existence in a scientific sense, it seems most likely that some strange species of creatures may have evolved in the relatively secluded environment Loch Ness provides, rather than a single, “seeded” organism appearing spontaneously, surviving several centuries, and then dying off. Furthermore, the decline in Nessie sightings may have less to do with the creature’s ultimate demise, instead due to environmental changes affecting temperature, food sources, and other elements over time that may have disrupted the harmony once maintained in Loch Ness for a unique species of this sort to survive. Nessie may not be making quite so many public appearances these days, but let’s not jump to conclusions and say it’s because she died; more likely, she and her kin are just fewer in numbers, and like most big fish on a hot day, dive a little deeper to cooler waters. All this remains dependent, of course, on one primary factor: whether or not such a creature could, or ever did exist… and that remains a mystery.

‘We were in Pacifica MO, tonight around 11:30 and we noticed a massive flying creature, not once but three times. My son even noticed it on his own the third time. We were near a large cliff/mountain with some type of cave openings. We don’t live in the area, I can say for sure we turned onto a road called viaduct road, went past a fire station and continued on for about 1 mile before we first noticed it. It was brownish/grey and the body portion was at least the size of a large adult human. This creature was tracking us – in a circle pattern. We were driving an escalade with the blue color headlights, this may have cause interest in us. The third time around us we viewed it in front of the vehicle, around driver side and around towards the rear of the vehicle, the factory tinted windows did help it vanish into the sky from out point of view.

Please understand when we could see it the range must have been about 150 feet in the air, not more than 250 feet. The distance was never less than 100 yards, often much greater. We were going about 35- 45 MPH. I have never thought of anything like this in my life! It is 3:33 and my son and myself are wide awake in a hotel 17 miles away from the place we first noticed the creature.

Note the creature’s color and size that the witness describes:

“It was brownish/grey and the body portion was at least the size of a large adult human.”

With this in mind, compare that to initial descriptions of the Mothman, taken from Wikipedia:

“Most observers described the Mothman as a winged man-sized creature… large and gray, with glowing red eyes.”

The fact that Mothman was also described having large glowing red eyes lends some strangeness to this next bit of information… is it any wonder that Jon’s post produced the following response from one reader, identified as “Lanette”? See below:

My oldest son, who is 18, was talking last night about seeing something VERY LARGE taking off from a huge old tree. He said it seems like it was 8′ tall and when he put the flashlight on it the eyes glowed back red (which a night hunting animals will at times) then it took off. Then he started in again about the very large part. We live about 20 miles from the Mississippi river.

I cannot say for sure that this animal has been the issue, but we do not have hardly any hawks in the area right now, and I have a coyote who has been using my carport as a hiding place at night, have run him/her off a few times coming home late. That is not normal at all since I have a dog rescue in the back yard which include some decent size hunting dogs. I know when the coyote is in the area at night due to the bays instead of barks out of the dogs.

Indeed, this might have been any number of animals, although the fact that it occurred at night does lend some credence to the notion that it may truly be an anomalous encounter, in some capacities at least. Generally, hawks and other birds of prey (with the exception of owls, which the Mothman traditionally resembles the most) don’t typically operate by night. What did Lynette’s son actually see?

As strange as the thing seems to have been, the “Mothman” has become a poster-child of sorts for the cryptozoological movement. Personally, in spite of my own fascination with reports of this creature, many of the fascinating elements associated with the legends that surround it make it a bit tough to chew; after all, consider that science has already proven that Bigfoot doesn’t defy known laws of physics. Mothman, on the other hand, is a little more hard to swallow, if eyewitness reports are to be taken literally (for instance, the wingspan described by witnesses would not be ideal for lifting a man-sized creature into the air). Still, I’m fascinated by the notion that such a creature–whether an archetypical “tulpa” or a creature as yet unknown to science–might have had such a lasting cultural affect on people.

Perhaps, as evidenced by the new information streaming from Downes’ website, its influence is still very much among us…

Annette’s article reads as follows:

It’s official – the Chase has been hailed one of the spookiest places in the country. The beauty spot, which stretches through Stafford, is renowned for its werewolf sightings, according to a latest paranormal study. It is all revealed in the work of paranormal researcher Lionel Fanthorpe, 74, from Cardiff. The study looks into paranormal events in the UK during the past 25 years. The study provides a breakdown of Britain’s spookiest places and focuses upon unexplained incidents reported to the police and leading paranormal organisations since the 1980s. There have been 21 reported cases of werewolf sightings, with the Cannock Chase werewolf being the most renowned.

I found it particularly interesting that Nick ties a unique series of reports of aquatic “monsters” into the story, referencing a few instances where something dubbed the “Cannock Nessie” was being described in one of the many ponds that exist in the region. “Over the last decade or so, intriguing reports have surfaced – from the many and varied little pools and ponds that can be found in, around, and on the outskirts of, the Cannock Chase – of sightings of exotic fish, crocodilians and much more of a distinctly out-of-place, aquatic nature. Without doubt, the most famous example of such activity occurred a number of years back at a small and semi-secluded body of water known as the Roman View Pond – that exists on the fringes of Cannock.”

Nick goes on to say that “It was from there, in the hot summer of 2003, that hysterical rumors wildly spread around the town of Cannock to the effect that a giant, marauding crocodile was on the loose. Local police, representatives of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), and the nation’s media all quickly descended upon the scene, as they valiantly and collectively sought to ascertain the truth about what, at a local level, fast (and inevitably!) became known to one and all as the Cannock Nessie.’ ”

As Nick goes on to describe, the discovery of Nessie’s next-of-kin ended up being a little less than historic… or in this case, prehistoric. To view the rest of the article, follow the link below:

Cannock Chase is Spooky!