Nick Redfern's Blog, page 136

The Abominable Snowman: Thursday

If you're in the US, and are into all things of a Bigfoot and Yeti nature, well this Thursday you're in for a treat. At 11.00 AM, central time, the Fox Movie Channel will be airing what is, in my opinion, the best movie ever made on such matters.

I'm talking about the 1957 production from Hammer Film Productions, The Abominable Snowman, starring Forrest Tucker and Peter Cushing.

Hammer made some great films, but this is one of the best. And the good news is that it does not take the tired and predictable approach of so many of today's crappy cryptozoological movie-makers. I mean, of course, having the creature slaughter - one by one - a bunch of kids in the woods.

Nope.

The Abominable Snowman is very different.

Yes, it's packed with intrigue and suspense, but (unlike so much of today's cheaply made rubbish) it's also filled with a great deal of thought-provoking material on the nature of the Yeti.

In fact, as we learn more about the creature, things become downright spooky. Indeed, certain scenes are unforgettable in the enigmatic stakes.

If you've never seen The Abominable Snowman , you're in for a great treat. If you have, well, watch it again!

UFOs: "They" Are Watching You...

If you are into UFOs and suffer from paranoia, you might not want to read my latest Mysterious Universe post. Then again, you might! Anyway, it starts like this:

"There are a number of intriguing disclosures contained in one of the batches of declassified British Government files on UFOs that surfaced in 2012. Among them are the notable (and lengthy) references to, and papers on, certain people within the UK-based UFO research field who had been secretly watched by officialdom. In some cases, they were watched for a very long time and by more than one agency or arm of the British Government. Interestingly, the 'saucer spying' was undertaken by agencies outside of the Ministry of Defense. Yet, we have, for years, been led to believe that the MoD is the only agency that plays a meaningful role in the UFO issue when it comes to the British Government.

"Governments distorting and hiding the facts? Really? Surely not?! And should we be surprised to learn that other UK departments, beyond the MoD, are also implicated in the UFO puzzle? No, of course we shouldn’t be surprised! In fact, nothing should surprise us when it comes to official secrecy and saucers in the sky."

Want to know how in UK-Ufology was watched and why? Read on!

Superstitions of Cornwall

Back in the early 1970s, when I was about 7 or 8, my parents bought me a great book, which I still read to this day: Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain . It was (and still is!) packed with tales of ghosts, witches, strange beasts, superstitions, legends and more, which kept a young, wide-eyed Nick Redfern entertained for hours.

Much space is given in the book to the myths of the English county of Cornwall, an ancient land filled with magic and mystery.

But, if you don't have the book, no worries, you can find some fascinating data on the high-strangeness-based superstitions of Cornwall in a new post from Kithra .

As she notes:

"...many of these old superstitions have now died out in Cornwall, which is I'm sure a very good thing. But, in some parts of the county I suspect that a few of them still persist. Such is the old 'magic and myth' of this beautiful place in which I'm lucky enough to live."

PS: Yes, that's my now tattered and battered copy of Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain , photographed this morning. And, looking inside, I see it was published in 1973. Forty years has flown by since I first immersed myself in its cool and creepy pages...!

Expeditions of the Monstrous Kind

My newly-posted Lair of the Beasts article at Mania.com lists the top three expeditions of the cryptozoological kind I'd like to go on if I had the chance.

It starts like this...

"Now and again I get asked something along the lines of: 'What strange creature, which you haven’t yet searched for, would you like to chase down?' Well, it’s a good question. The world is a very big place and there are a lot of weird beasts out there. But, there are a few specific and amazing animals I’d like to go looking for which, so far, I haven’t had the opportunity.

"Imagine coming face to face with a ferocious, carnivorous monitor lizard with a length of somewhere between fifteen and twenty feet – maybe even closer to twenty five feet – and a weight in excess of at least a ton.

"Not in times long past – since the creature under the microscope is widely assumed to have become extinct around 40,000 years ago - but right now, deep in the heart of the sub-tropical rainforests of Australia. You think it couldn’t happen?"

And here's the rest of the article, and the lowdown on those three...

MIB - Twice!

If, like me, you're fascinated by the mystery of the menacing Men in Black, then there's good news: there are two, good new articles on the subject at Mysterious Universe . The first is from Micah Hanks, which begins as follows...

"After the initial stirring media reports of 'flying saucers' began to claim the attention of postwar America, it wasn’t long before sci-fi and aviation enthusiasts, as well as journalists and the generally curious, began forming clubs and organizations aimed at 'cracking' the saucer mystery. Few would have guessed back then, at the outset of this cultural phenomenon, that more than a century later, the interest in this subject would remain so strong, largely because no clear solution to the UFO mystery has been offered, aside from speculation that still involves aliens visiting earth, time travelers, secret technologies, back engineering, and an entire host of other things.



"Then again, it is within the UFO literature itself that we also find references to another cultural phenomenon, of sorts, contained neatly within its own secretive sub-genre of oddity; this involves the Men in Black, beings whose popularity today is good cause for no further description being needed here as to who or what these characters are believed to be. But despite their popularity as a cultural phenomenon all to themselves, is there a chance that some aspects of the MIB mystery might even be explained by the careful cross-examination of source materials that support their existence?"

And here's Micah's complete post...




Here's the second new article at Mysterious Universe on the MIB, this one from Jason Offutt:

"When 20-year-old Walter woke, the red, glowing lights of his bedside alarm clock read 88:88. He quickly saw the clock wasn’t the only thing wrong in his room. 'Standing above it was a man-sized black shadow with glowing red eyes,' Walter said. 'I looked right at him, and was more confused then anything.'




"Walter, now 28, has always been used to strange things in his room. During many nights as a small child, the thin blanket of light crawling into his room from nearby streetlights would slowly dim until he couldn’t see anything. Although he was too young to remember, family members told him this is when the voices came out. 'At that time what I was told was imaginary friends would come and I’d talk to them,' he said. 'Even now when I’m in a dark room it’s like I can still hear the whispers of others and even during times of danger there is always a voice that warns me to take action.'"

And here's Jason's full article...

Soviet Saucers and Sinister Clouds

"If there is one thing more than any other that I like about the Flying Saucer era of the late 1940s and the early to mid 1950s, it’s the sheer wacky nature of some of the stories that surfaced during that long gone time. Indeed, they are of a caliber (and sometimes of a lack of caliber!) that we just don’t see today. The following is a classic example, and which, just maybe, does indeed have a degree, or nugget, of truth to it. Who knows?

"It’s a very strange story that I suspect most people within Ufology will never even have heard of. But, it’s undeniably fascinating, and filled with tales of the FBI, clandestine sources and informants, Soviet secrets, mysterious “controlled clouds,” dead worms (yes, really) and much more. I have been delving into it for quite some time now, but have gone about just as far as I can – unless, that is, anyone reading this knows more…"

The words above are the opening paragraphs to a new Mysterious Universe article from me on a seriously weird story that you can find right here...

Crop Circles and Circle Makers

I've got a new post up at Mysterious Universe . The subject: the people who make crop circles.

Hang on, though, before you get your blood-pressure all out of shape. We're not talking about hoaxers. Rather, we're talking about makers. And makers who experience paranormal phenomena in those formations of their own design.



The article starts as follows:

"As some people may already be aware, many of my views on crop circles are hardly what might be termed conventional. But, as crop circles are themselves in no way conventional, for me, at least, my approach to the subject is a highly appropriate one. Here’s the deal: for numerous people crop circles are the work of aliens, ET, little grey men with large, wrap-around black eyes, and over-sized heads. You get the picture, right? Of course you do! For the true-believers who pray daily at the altar of our hallowed lord and master, Kenneth Arnold, it has to be ET; it just has to be. Actually, when it comes to crop circles, no, it doesn’t have to be. At all."



And here's the complete piece...

It's an article that covers a famous circle maker, a castle, a peacock, missing time, and much, much more...

The Cult of the Moon Beast

Over the years I've done more than a few investigations into strange and disturbing mutilations of animals in the UK - much of which was prompted by the fact that, as a kid, I lived only about 5-minutes from where the very controversial saga of George Edalji (pictured below) went down. In other words, as the Edalji affair was known all across the little villages of the area I grew up in, I was exposed to the phenomenon from an early age.




But, we're not talking about attacks by so-called "Alien Big Cats" or anything along the lines of cattle mutilations.

Rather, we're talking about ritualistic sacrifice and the summoning up of strange and bizarre beasts as a consequence and result of those sacrifices.

In my 2008 book, There's Something in the Woods , I detailed a series of such events that occurred in Devonshire, England in 2006; and my 2012 book Monster Diary reveals my findings on an ancient Scottish group - the Taigheirm - that got up to similar things in centuries-past, and which may still exist.

One of the weirdest stories that falls into this category came to me in 2000 by a guy named Rob Lea. It's a very odd and lengthy saga filled with conspiracy, werewolves, slaughtered sheep, and much, much more.

And Rob's story is the focus of my latest Mysterious Universe post.

The Beast-Man That Wasn't

Matt Salusbury provides us with an entertaining story of a quest for the truth about a certain "British Bigfoot." It's a post that opens as follows...

"In November last year, there were widespread news reports  of a sighting of what became known as the Tunbridge Wells Bigfoot, a roaring, black hairy figure 'eight feet tall' with red eyes that startled an eyewitness walking on The Common at night. London Cryptozoology Club decided to investigate.

"It should be noted that we went to Tunbridge Wells with a very sceptical view of this so-called 'Tunbridge Wells Bigfoot' (TWB) phenomenon. We were particularly sceptical of an online posting by 'Greham S,' who claimed that a courting couple on a bench in The Common had witnessed the 'Ape-Man' back in World War Two."

And here's where you can find the full story, as well as a number of related photos...

There's Something at the Bridge...

There's a new Lair of the Beasts column from me at Mania.com. The subject: a case that has long fascinated me. Namely, that of the so-called Man-Monkey of England.

The post begins...

"In her 1883 book, Shropshire Folklore , Charlotte Sophia Burne detailed a deeply curious tale of a bizarre, ghost-like ape encountered near woods surrounding an old stretch of English canal:

"'A very weird story of an encounter with an animal ghost arose of late years within my knowledge. On the 21st of January 1879, a laboring man was employed to take a cart of luggage from Ranton in Staffordshire to Woodcock, beyond Newport in Shropshire, for the ease of a party of visitors who were going from one house to another.

"'He was late in coming back; his horse was tired, and could only crawl along at a foot’s pace, so that it was ten o’clock at night when he arrived at the place where the highroad crosses the Birmingham and Liverpool canal."

"Suddenly, said Burne a fast-moving animal leaped out of the shadowy trees and propelled itself aboard the cart, sending the horse into a state of frenzy."

What happened next?  This is what happened next...

PS: Yep, that's the bridge above where all the weirdness went down. And still does!