Oh, the wonders of the internet! You never know what you might find, how far it might travel, and who might lay claim to it.
Recently a video has been making the rounds that shows some sort of blob-like, pulsating masses living in a sewer pipe. Whatever they are, they appear to be animal (although slime molds have not been completely ruled out yet) and despite their ability to move, they seem to be attached to the wall of the sewer pipes by some sort of mucous or film. In some portions of the recording you can see this mucillagenous layer floating in the water beneath the bulk of the mass. Early speculation at the Cryptoworld website ranged from bryozoan to freshwater jellyfish to tubifex worms. Although tubifex worms sometimes clump, they are an aquatic species and the blob shown on the video exists at least partially out of the water. Another popular explanation, bryozoans, typically create colonies of calcium structures, much like corals, however not all species do so. But while comments were still being posted and debates were raging about just what the video showed, a couple of television news sources surfaced, each identifiying the blob.
The only problem is, there are at least two different stations, from two different cities, in two very different parts of the country, both identifying the creatures as something found beneath their streets, and both offering different explanations of just what the blob is.
TV News 14, out of Raleigh, North Carolina is identifying the blob as a colony of tubifex worms found in a private sewer system by the Raleigh Public Utilities Department.
But Fox 31, out of Denver, Colorado went with the bryozoan explanation when they reported a similar story in January of last year, and quoted a water system worker who claimed this particular colony was actually residing in the Crestview Water System, in a pipe near the intersection of 76th and Pecos.
Although the images are surprisingly similar, it is defintiely possible that they are from two different colonies, filmed in two separate locations, on different dates. The images supposedly coming out of North Carolina, for instance, display a late April, 2009 time stamp. However, given superficial appearances and the habitat, its highly unlikely that they represent two separate organisms. Although I’m in no way an authority, or in any way qualified to make a defintive identification, based on what I have read about the life cycles and habits of tubifex and bryozoans, I’m leaning more toward the latter as an explanation for our mystery blobs.
In late 2001, some friends and I were talking about our desire to see more and better quality paranormal and parapolitical TV shows on broadcast and cable television. We wanted our own Anomaly TV Network. We felt certain we had the drive, the skills, the equipment and the network of real world anomaly researchers that would be just the trick to make such dreams a reality. But things are seldom so simple as that.
Within a few years we recognized that the face of the internet was rapidly changing and that services such as YouTube, which had arrived on the scene earlier that year, were about to further revolutionize information sharing and content delivery on the internet. It took over a year for this paradigm shift to sink in but by the end of 2006 one of my good friends had the brilliant idea to start regularly blogging links to the best paranormal and parapolitical videos we could find online. So I began to post … and post and post and post, trying to find videos for every day of the week following our daily focus schedule of…
I would like to plead for my right to investigate natural phenomena without having guns pointed at me. I also ask for the right to be wrong without being hanged for it. — Wilhelm Reich, father of the concept of orgone energy and inventor of the orgone accumulator
Reuters is reporting that Russian authorities have assumed custody of a five year old girl who has spent the majority of her life locked in an unheated flat in the Siberian city of Chita with a group of dogs and cats. The child, who authorities assume to be around five years old despite stunted growth that makes her appear to be around two years of age, is non-vocal and exhibits dog-like behavior, such as barking and jumping at doors whenever care takers leave the room. (More at Reuters.com)
The girl, who is being called “Natasha”, is far from the first documented feral child. While the mythic founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus (who legend claims were suckled by a she wolf after being saved from death by having their basket set in the Tiber River and washing ashore Moses style) are among the most famous of the feral children and Rudyard Kipling’s fictional Mowgli, from the Jungle Book, lends his name to the syndrome for children who adopt the characteristics of animals they grow up with; there are several documented cases of actual feral children. These cases include:
There are also a number of children who, while not technically “feral” in the sense of being raised by animals, have been abandoned due to mental incapacity and then had the feral child myth constructed around them (such as the famous Indian “wolf girls” Amala and Kamala) or otherwise held in isolation by their parents or care-givers. In addition there are a number of unsubstantiated or poorly documented stories out of African nations , especially those savaged by years of war such as Sierra Leone and Uganda, of children raised by apes or monkeys after losing their parents.
There are also the outright hoaxes, usually of the carnival side-show variety where a physical or mental deficiency was exploited for monetary gain, however there are enough verifiable accounts to make the phenomenon an intriguing study.
As we start winding up (or down) for the weekend, let’s take a moment to indulge in a little monkey business, just because it’s Thursday.
Let’s start with this bit from Dallas, TX where a contractor doing lot work for a Montessori school uncovered an out of place primate skull that bears a bit of a resemblance to the skull of a small baboon.
Out of place monkeys are nothing new to Texas. A troupe of Japanese macaques, brought to the state from around Kyoto to protect them from extermination by angry merchants fed up with their thieving, had some folks concerned about the potential for wild breeding populations establishing themselves in parts of south Texas after they began wandering outside the sanctuary they were relocated to in 1972.
But how this skull came to be buried in a north Dallas suburb remains a mystery.
We’ve also recently heard news about an orangutan (well known escape artists) short circuiting a security fence to escape an Australian zoo, as well as news of female gorillas using hand claps to gain the attention of offspring and mates and of apes using sticks to procure honey (part four in the TBRC’s Great Ape Behavioral Parallel series).
Speaking of the Great Ape Behavioral Parallel, my co-author of part three, and the author of part four that we reference above, Michael C. Mayes, has his own excellent cryptid related blog, Texas Cryptid Hunter, that is worth checking out. Recent articles include an examination of the gorilla clapping, as well as a wonderful vignette describing Teddy Roosevelt’s post-presidency experiences on the Amazonian tributary known as the River of Doubt.
Cryptomundo, or course, is still most folks “go to” source for breaking cryptid news (author included) but another cryptozoologically themed website that might be worth adding to your RSS feed is Cryptoworld. This UK based cryptid site features intriguing, regularly updated links, and is becoming a favorite “quick click” site for my lunch break web surfing.
So there you have it. A little down and dirty monkey business to jump start your weekend. Enjoy the links. Have fun. And try not to throw any feces at the scofftics.
I’m going to try and start a new tradition around here. Every Thursday we’re going to post random links to strange tid-bits in the news that you may have missed, may have seen elsewhere, or may know more about than any of us could begin to.
I’ll need your help to keep on task.
Sometimes there will be a theme. If I can’t come up with a cohesive theme, it’ll just be random. The point is, here are some weird things that I don’t have the time or inclination to write a full article about, but they’re interesting.
Hope you enjoy:
We’ll start with a little news of feng-shui impeding international relations in Hong Kong. These sorts of beliefs, straddling a line between sciences and superstitions, have always fascinated me. Asian traditional medicine is full of this. The Doctrine of Signatures, for instance, that says because a food is kidney shaped it is good for the kidneys, colon shaped it is good for the colon, etc. These ideas were abandoned in the west long ago, and while we may at times scoff at macrobiotic classification of foods as yin and yang, the healing aspects of such diets are well-documented, as are the effects of ayurvedic remedies, acupuncture, etc. It’s also interesting to note that “pseudo-sciences”, such as dowsing, are considered legitimate means of scientific investigation in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union (see Jacques Vallée’s Ufo Chronicles of the Soviet Union : A Cosmic Samidzat for examples).
In the same vein of superstition, but on the more primitive end of the spectrum, we have this report of a witch/goat accused of armed robbery in Nigeria. Naturally, culture dictating norms, the goat is being held in custody until the story can be confirmed.
Jumping back to the former Soviet Union, we have this story, one some western scientist are sure to raise an eyebrow at, of a man with a tree found growing inside his lung.
And finally, just because I thought it was adorably hillarious (and because I have a weak spot for facial hair) we have this story of a finely mustachioed horse from Gloucestershire in the UK.
The latest issue of the cryptozoologically themed Image Comics title Proof (issue # 18, on stands now) features a short interview with Sean Whitley, the writer/director of the forthcoming documentary Southern Fried Bigfoot, which discusses sightings of the Skunk Ape, Honey Island Swamp Monster, the Fouke Monster, and other southern hominids.
Keep your eyes peeled for an AnomalyMagazine.com review of Southern Fried Bigfoot as the premiere date approaches.
March 7
Powell St. John exhibit opens;
artist reception March 14 At the Museum
March 13
Special Display of Vulcan Gas Company Posters & Photos
Psych Fest Radio Room, 508 East 6th Street
Start Time: 8:30 pm
March 14
Powell St. John Exhibit Reception 7:09pm
Music by Powell St. John
8:00 pm Special guest Alex Maas
At the Museum, $5 donation requested
March 18
Austin Chronicle Music Awards
Special Museum display featuring Doug Sahm
Austin Music Hall
March 19 – 22
Flatstock 20- conference of the members of the American Poster Institute
Thurs., March 19 1pm – 6pm
Fri., Sat. Sun. March 20, 21, 22 11am – 6pm
Austin Convention Center
March 21
Uranium Savages 4:20 pm – 7:09 pm
Chicken Strut 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm
At the Museum, $5 donation requested
South Austin Museum of Popular Culture
1516-B South Lamar Blvd
Austin, Texas 78704
512.440.8318
Just plain weird and Fortean … a great pick-me-up story in a world gone mad.
Woman Claims To Find $5 Bill Inside Coconut
PEARL CITY, Hawaii — It is a mystery to a family in Pearl City, Hawaii, and they swear it really happened. A woman said she found a $5 bill inside a coconut.
Kuulei Mata said she brought home fresh coconuts from a local market and cracked some of them open.
She was disappointed to find that one, and then another, had water but no meat.
The coconuts were so bad she was going to return them and ask for her money back. Then she cracked open another one and reached inside.
“I went in with my fingers and out came this money. I didn’t realize it was $5,” Kuulei Mata said. “I called my husband and said, ‘Look! Look!’”
Ron Mata had been watching TV. He said sure enough, his wife produced $5 from the coconut, which had been in a refrigerator.
“So I grabbed it. It was a wet, damp and cold $5 bill she got. I said, ‘No! No way,’” Ron Mata said.
The couple has no idea how the money found its way into the hard shell fruit.
The Matas understand skeptics saying, “It’s too good to be true. It’s like, believe it or not, you know?”
It makes one wonder if money may grow on trees after all.”
Somehow this has flown under my radar for a couple of months, but Dan Akroyd is marketing his own brand of boutique vodka sold in a skull shaped bottle. What does this have to do with anomalous phenomenon you ask?
Everything!
In his online video explaining the liquor, an oddly sweaty Akroyd almost seems to be parodying himself in some Twilight Zone episode of SNL as he talks about everything from ghosts, UFOs, and the “invisible world”, to ectoplasm (a running gag of his Ghost Busters movies) and the latest Indiana Jones movie. That’s right. The latest Indie movie and this vodka have something in common other than actors who made their best movies two decades ago. The bottle shape was chosen as a tribute to the infamous crystal skulls.
So that the packaging matched the spiritual potential of the contents, naturally.
And just when you thought it couldn’t get any stranger, Akroyd reveals the secret filtration process that makes his vodka the purest in the world. I won’t reveal it here. The video just has to be seen for itself.
And in spite of the sheer ridiculousness of it all, I can’t help myself. I really want a bottle of this vodka! Or thirteen. After all, as the website for Crystal Head Vodka notes:
Brought together, the Crystal Heads are said to contain vast knowledge and enlightenment capable of unlocking our most enigmatic ancient mysteries. Alone, each is believed to house radiant psychic energy, which has magical powers and healing properties.
Posted July 2, 2009 
Comments(0) 
I would like to plead for my right to investigate natural phenomena without having guns pointed at me. I also ask for the right to be wrong without being hanged for it. — 
The latest issue of the cryptozoologically themed Image Comics title Proof (issue # 18, on stands now) features a short interview with Sean Whitley, the writer/director of the forthcoming documentary Southern Fried Bigfoot, which discusses sightings of the Skunk Ape, Honey Island Swamp Monster, the Fouke Monster, and other southern hominids.
