Two Animal Prints, Marcelo Grassman

Really love this, I think it's so good. All the different textures and weird ideas. Personality. Some kind of insane, twisted thing is up and having fun 👹

#art #print #mad #weird #truth #strange #weird #strangeTimes #party

A false start on the men's Marathon at the world championships in Tokyo.

#strangetimes #WorldAthletics

Strange Times for 4 August 2024

Hi everyone. Here is an assemblage of some strange news bits from the week you may not have heard about. And, with apologies, maybe you’ll wish you didn’t. So, look out! The werewolf/dogman stuff is still steadily rolling out and gaining momentum. A new crop circle cost the farmer some significant damages. And, an excessively exaggerated “haunted” location now has another kooky claim.

Clap (and click) for the wolfman

If you follow my social media, you may have noticed I have been fixated a bit on dogman/werewolf stuff of late. You’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg as the discussion in the background has been ongoing. This week there was no shortage of werewolves in the fringe news. I know, it seems unreal, but, be assured, there is a small percentage of people who deeply believe that humanoids with canid characteristics exist across North American. The stories are spreading and gaining popularity. Faked videos and images, and supposedly eyewitness accounts are fueling the belief. You might have guessed that no actual evidence for an actual unexplained animal exists, so believers are desperate for anything to support their imaginative claims.

Several faked or ambiguous videos get huge attention on TikTok. And, it’s a good game, when consuming any Dogman content, to listen for when someone says they heard about a claim via a podcast. This is a major form of story transmission these days.

This week, there was an entirely ambiguous TikTok video showing a very short, far away clip of a dark thing on a road or sidewalk said to have been taken in Argentina. It was likely one of the typically enhanced videos labeled as “weird mystery creature”. It also wasn’t exactly “viral” as the mystery sites proclaimed, only gaining tens of thousands of views when it was publicized. People could not make out what it was, and it was originally not deemed to be anything paranormal, until the werewolf label was attached.

Also promoted by paranormal sites was a game camera photo said to be from North Carolina that at first glance appears to show the backside of a bear. However, no head is visible, and the feet look odd, as if there is a raised ankle joint (so that the animal is walking digitigrade like a dog, rather than plantigrade, like a bear or human). This meant it was tagged as a dogman on Reddit where it first appeared. The story was picked up by a Bigfoot research group who didn’t even consider that the image might be misinterpreted or manipulated. Instead, they fussed over whether it was a Bigfoot or a Dogman. However, the sound explanation is that this is a black bear facing away from the camera. The short tail is visible, and the animal is thin and has thin fur. It is on all fours but bending to the right. The angle makes the body appear foreshortened. Game cameras usually fail to show perfect detail and may have deceptive blurring or shadows.

Since there is no credible evidence for a dogman, jumping to a conclusion that it is that thing is absurd. Such an incredible conclusion cannot otherwise be reasonably made from one game camera photo of unknown provenance. But, if you already believe in the premise, you are primed to accept even the weakest examples to support your belief.

An actual expert weighs in on the dogman craze

The best Dogman/Werewolf information out this week was a long discussion on the TetZoo blog by paleozoologist Darren Naish. His Werewolves in America; the Tale of Dogman traces the history, notes the famous cases, and comes to the inevitable conclusion that the dogman/werewolf is “real and alive in modern culture, for sure,” but the folklore is obviously evolving. As for its possibility as a a flesh-and-blood creature that science can recognize, that’s a solid “No.”

Crop circle criminal

Moving on, I noted in a past post that it’s crop circle season. A farmer in Dorset, UK was decidedly displeased to have one appear in his field in mid July. The police consider the unlawful trespassing and destruction of part of the field to be criminal activity that cost the farmer some £2,000. Police are asking for tips about who did it.

A ghostly tattle-tale

Finally, if you thought the use of spectral evidence ended with 17th century witch trials, prepared to be flabbergasted. Brian Dansereau worked at the Burrillville farmhouse in Rhode Island, also known as the Old Arnold Estate, and famously for being the house at the center of the 2013 movie “The Conjuring”. Dansereau was fired by the current owner, Jacqueline Nuñez, who claims that the spirit of the original owner, John Arnold, informed her from beyond the grave that Dansereau was stealing. Suddenly unemployed, he subsequently filed a claim for unpaid wages with the R.I. Department of Labor and Training, estimating Nuñez owes him $9,000 for uncompensated work. Nuñez asserts she is a medium that received this message from the spirit world and said that “every person is entitled to experiences that bring understanding and meaning to our lives”. She also says she has additional evidence from accounting to back up her claims. The story of “The Conjuring” haunting is dubious to begin with, and the movie was additionally exaggerated. It’s no surprise that gaining money from such an alternative reality will come back to truly haunt you one day. It might be interesting to see how this case shakes out.

That’s it for now. I think it’s enough.

#Bigfoot #cropCircle #dogman #haunting #news #Paranormal #paranormalNews #spectralEvidence #StrangeTimes #TheConjuring #werewolf

https://sharonahill.com/?p=8692

South Korean airport authorities crack down on Trader Joe’s bagel seasoning

https://slrpnk.net/post/11501977

A bouquet of interesting news for 11 Jan 2024

Hi everyone, even though it’s dreary winter where I am, I gathered a bouquet of interesting weird news bits to share.

But before I get started, a quick note on subscriptions. I have consolidated subscription lists from the old version of this WordPress site, my Spooky Geology site, and my now-ended Substack newsletter. I did my best to remove duplicates, but if you were a subscriber to more than one of those, you may receive a duplicate notice of posting here. Please feel free to discontinue one of the subs. I really appreciate it if you can continue receiving notifications, even if you don’t read every post. It’s important to keep in contact. These days, social media is fractured. I believe the best answer is to set up your named site and reach out from there. So that’s what I’ve done. I’d love for you to reach out directly if you have any comments or questions. Now onto some juicy stuff…

While it’s not for everyone, I like browsing the site for Outdoor Life magazine. (Trigger warning if you click: Dead animals.) I previously had chats with one writer there, and they cover not just hunting and guns (which I don’t find pleasant), but some conservation topics as well. I found an interesting trio of stories there when I checked today.

Arizona jaguar spotted

First, this is exciting, a new jaguar was spotted on a trail cam in Arizona. Jason Miller had been maintaining wildlife cameras north of the Mexican border with the hope of catching an endangered jaguar on film. On 20 Dec 2023, he did it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6tNTKwMUAc

Five officials from the Arizona Game and Fish Department examined the footage and, judging by the spot pattern, confirmed that the jaguar is an individual they have not seen before. Since 1996, when the species was classified as endangered, this is only the 8th individual animal documented in the U.S. The Mexico state of Sonora has about 200 jaguars in a breeding population. It’s important for all wildlife enthusiasts to consider that border walls severely impact wildlife. A wildfire last summer in a nature preserve killed many wild animals in Texas when they were unable to escape.

Megalodon tooth found in deep water

Another great find was in the ocean off the South Pacific. Back in 2022, biologists were mechanically collecting from the ocean floor in a deep sea area near the Johnson Atoll. They brought up a Megalodon shark tooth that had lain in place 10,000 feet down. It still had the serrations on the ridges! Cryptozoologists might hope that this means the Megalodon is not extinct. But the fossil was 3.5-million-years old and encrusted with iron and manganese minerals because it had not been disturbed and eroded. This is the first time such a tooth was found in situ. Shark skeletons, being made of cartilage, do not commonly fossilize. But we have a lot of their shed teeth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2-rSMJ_JRs

Bad news for G. blacki

Another story of interest to cryptozoology fans is the news that we now have more detailed information about when everyone’s favorite candidate for a Bigfoot ancestor, Gigantopithecus blacki, went extinct. Unfortunately, it died out over 200,000 years ago in China. No chance that it made it to North America. Researchers suspect populations declined due to changing environment and food sources, which made it difficult for such a huge ape to adapt.

Hunter fixes an unfortunate incident with a pine marten

A trapper in Minnesota inadvertently caught a pine marten out of season in a snare trap designed to kill small animals instantly. He immediately reported the incident by phone to wildlife officials, as he was supposed to do. Except, while on the phone after releasing the animal, he noticed it twitch. He resuscitated the animal by giving it mouth-to-mouth! (Not recommended for many and various reasons.) The animals then ran away, but not before lunging aggressively toward the man. Pine martens are pretty nasty critters. But all ends well.

Don’t elect idiots

Now, a story about just one of many ignorant lawmakers proposing dumb laws. A Kentucky state senator proposed a bill to decriminalize killing of native hawks. Why? Because hawks kill chickens and one got his cat. Senator Boswell seems oblivious to the fact that domestic cats, which are not native, kill so many songbirds that they are a threat to biodiversity. This guy never consulted biologists and did no due diligence in crafting the bill, which, hopefully, will die. He’s also being publically embarrassed by misidentifying European Starlings as hawks. Yeah. This guy can go pound sand.

Better wear a hat in Australia

In other dangerous bird news, an 8 yr old did a survey of magpie attacks in Australia suggests that the birds are more likely to attack bald men.

If you have interesting news links, drop me a message at [email protected]. Follow on Mastodon!

#Bigfoot #birds #cryptids #Cryptozoology #nature #StrangeTimes #WeeklyWeirdNews #wildlife

https://sharonahill.com/?p=8274

I never thought I'd feel guilty for eating a salad, but there you go. 🥗

#StrangeTimes #FoodShortages #salad