“Of Giant Apes and Snowmen IN the 1930’s, Ralph von Koenigswald, who discovered the first man-ape jaw in Java and some human remains to be described shortly, combed the Chinese drugstores of several Oriental cities, in search of fossil teeth. For centuries the Chinese have used the bones of fossil animals to cure their ills, in the belief that courage, strength, and virility come from the powdered remains of large, strong, and potent animals. Their cure for toothache is powdered teeth. Out of thousands of teeth, von Koenigswald found, in Hong Kong, six of particular interest. They are human-like in form, but six times as large, in volume, as those of living men. Between the stubs of the roots, gnawed by cave porcupines, he detected powdered yellow earth, which told him that the teeth had come from caves near the Yangtze gorges. He called the animal to whom the teeth had belonged Giganto-pithecus, the giant ape. For years some paleontologists believed that Gigantopithecus was an ancestor of man, but in the late 1950’s Chinese scientists found three jaws of this animal, which was an aberrant ape. It lived in the Pleistocene, too late to be our ancestor. An even more famous and fabulous animal is the Yeti, or Abominable Snowman. His tracks have been found in snow and mud in the Himalayas, and he has been reported as far north as Mongolia. Eyewitnesses have described him as tall, two-legged, tawny-coated, maned, big-muzzled, and big-toothed. Several expeditions to Nepal and Soviet Central Asia have failed to find this elusive animal, whose numerous tracks are so far unique. Even if it turns out to be a primate it is more likely to be a survival of Gigantopithecus than an Australopithecine.”
The Wolf Moon, the first full moon of January which shined down on us last night, carries with it a mystique that’s been woven into folklore and legends across cultures.
In Native American traditions, it is named after the hungry howls of wolves heard during the frigid winter months. These howls were thought to signify the wolves’ yearning for the sustenance and warmth that the cold, barren landscape lacked. This moon marked a period of hardship and endurance for both the wolves and the people who lived alongside them.
In other cultures, the Wolf Moon is associated with transformation and inner strength. Legends speak of mythical creatures that were said to roam under this luminous moon, including werewolves, who would shift from human to wolf under its silvery light. The eerie glow of the Wolf Moon was thought to awaken a primal instinct within, urging individuals to connect with their wild, untamed nature.
There are also tales of spiritual awakenings and mystical encounters happening beneath the Wolf Moon. It’s a time believed to be ripe for introspection, releasing old habits, and setting intentions for the year ahead. Some legends even suggest that the Wolf Moon opens a portal to the realm of spirits, allowing for communication between the earthly and the otherworldly.
It’s fascinating how a single celestial event can inspire such a rich tapestry of stories and beliefs!
And sadly, I apologize that I wasn’t able to publish this last night due to a teeny hiking injury, but, better late than never! 🌕🐺✨
“Baum, who was in the woods late in the afternoon with his stepfather to build the tree stand for future hunting use, said he immediately knew what he was seeing. Though it was late afternoon, it had been a bright, sunny day, he said.
In other words, the visibility was excellent in the area near Hanley and Woodville Roads, just east of I-71, especially with no leaves on the trees.”
The Sea Lion as originally described in the 1500s from The John Carter Brown Library
For the second in a series of curious creatures once the cryptids of their time, we talk about the sea lion.
I can imagine a sea lion must have been quite a site if you had no knowledge or experience with one, I’d probably still want to pat one even then. But let’s take a look at one of it’s first sightings in Brazil in the 1500s…
In 1564, when the Portuguese had just arrived here, they found a monster on the beach? That’s right. It was where the city of São Vicente is today, on the coast of São Paulo. The story goes back to Pero de Magalhães Gândavo, one of our first historians. He says that, one night, the Indians pulled out of the sea a creature that measured more than 3 meters in length, full of fins and hair all over its body, “and on its snout it had very large silks like whiskers”. They named it ipupiara, or water demon in ancient Tupi.”
A text from that time tells a tale that goes a little like this;
Explorer Baltasar Ferreira killed this marine monster off the coast of São Vicente (present-day Santos in the state of São Paulo) in 1564. The monster is described as being 15 palms long, covered with hair, and with silky bristles like a mustache on its muzzle.
Today they say they still aren’t sure what the creature really was, but it is thought to be a lost sea lion that swam into their waters. A statue of the creature, which is thought to be what inspired the Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Shape of Water, still stands today…
“This is my favorite piece of bigfoot art ever. It shows the story of a teen from Manitoba who claims that in 1941 he shot a sasquatch after mistaking it for a moose. At the time he was worried it was a human, so he kept quiet for decades. From the book “Strange Creatures Seldom Seen” “
This was posted on http://r/bigfoot below is from the BFRO report on this encounter. The BFRO investigator was able to go and interview this witness.
If anyone knows the artist of this painting please let me know so I may credit them.
It happened the first week of November, 1941, 62 years ago, when Peter was 17 years old. He’d gone hunting for moose with two friends around Basket Lake, a small lake about 15 miles west of Gypsumville, the town near where Peter grew up and has always lived. The two friends hunted the east side of Basket Lake; Peter wanted to go to the west side, which he knew was good for moose and elk. There was patchy snow on the ground and Peter found ambling moose tracks criss-crossing the area, indicating feeding animals.
The spotty snow made tracking difficult but he moved ahead: “…Sure enough, I did see one in the willows feeding with its head down, and it was a cow moose – no calf, I didn’t see a calf, and no horns, so I knew it was a cow. At that time the bulls still have their horns. But, in 1941 yet before the major fires, there were bush and willows so thick that you couldn’t believe it. So you had to shoot through willows, there’s not… you didn’t always have an open shot, so… take a chance. So I did shoot, because I knew… take one or two steps and… [It would be gone].”
And… I looked in the willows… again, and I could see all this hair, so I thought to myself ‘Well, I’ll slow you up,’ and I took a good aim and I fired. It disappeared… looked like I got it, so I walked up to it slowly… It wasn’t far, 45 yards, only – ‘cause that’s about as far as you could see in that stuff – if it was that far. But I took my time, because when you approach a big game animal you have to approach carefully. You carry your gun across your chest with your hand on the breach, ready to fire. If it wants to jump you, you have one good shot, point blank. Don’t raise the gun to your shoulder, just turn it and pull the trigger. That’s the last chance you got. Because a big game animal, he gets you, you’ve had it.
I told a few folks about this over the years and they think I was nuts. But doesn’t matter what they think. I was close enough to know what it was. I would say about less than 50 ft. Right in the middle of a fire road.
In December 1977, my dad, uncle and my dad’s other friends and myself went up to the cabin owned by a hunters club in Gardner, Mass. We went to spend the night, cook food and my dad and his friends like to play cards after eating supper. Myself and a friend used the snowmobile with a sled attached to the back, we took turns driving the ski doo around and the other would stand on the foot rest on the sled.
The area was in northern central Massachusetts, very close to New Hampshire boarder. The cabin is in Ashburnham Mass. It’s about 2.5 miles up a fire road called Old Colony Road. I remember it was a snowy winter that year. The area where we saw this thing was right on the edge of a swamp, old train tracks run right thru the area and crosses the fire road that we used to get to the cabin.
It was about 4 p.m. or so, it was just getting a little dark. My friend and I left the cabin with the snowmobile, he was driving first and I was on the foot rest on the sled. We left and came up to the swamp, crossed over the tracks and headed down the road about 50 ft or so. It was getting a little late and we decided to not go to far so we turned the sled around on the road. Had to pick it up because of the narrowness of the road. Once we turned it around it was my turn to drive. So now we’re facing the tracks and the swamp is on both sides of the road. the road goes right thru the swamp and the tracks cross right by the edge of the swamp.
At this point I looked behind me to see if my friend was on the sled and holding on, when I looked up I saw this creature walking on 2 legs like a human. He crossed right by the tracks at the edge of the swamp and crossed the road right in front of us. I remember it looking at us and I remember the arms swing clearly. Just like the pictures I have seen from your site. Very similar. Anyway, I remember the its size, that’s what was scarey, so large, I’d say about 7to 9 ft high, weight about 400 to 500 pounds. At least for something that size it would most likely be heavy. I know the woods there well. I’ve spent years in the military and hunt every year. I have been trained in tracking and survival in the woods so I know what I am saying and what I saw. But the thing took about 2 steps and he was across the road. All black hair, didn’t notice any smells, but I can tell you this. I won’t forget that day ever. It was cold anyway and with no breeze the smell of it wouldn’t travel far. My friend was shocked. He won’t even mention it when I see him these days. He told one person and they treated him like he was on drugs. So thats why I never wanted to tell to many people.”
Crews found not one, but two strange footprints in his niece’s driveway near Payne’s Chapel Road, just two miles from the Bulloch/Jenkins County line Tuesday. The prints appear humanlike, but only show four toes. The largest measures 19″ long and 11″ wide, and was way deeper than Crews was able to make one of his own prints, and he weighs about 250 pounds. In fact, the off prints dwarf his size 13 EEE shoe prints, he said. Crews’ niece was taking her children to the end of the driveway Tuesday morning when she spotted the prints and called Crews. “She said she heard the dogs, which were in the house, raising cain around 4 a.m.,” he said. “They wouldn’t shut up.”
