CFZ's Next Generation Initiative

Many researchers think that old newspaper accounts of "wild men," "wild women," "gorillas," and "anthropoids" throughout the United States could be historical accounts of Sasquatch. But do these accounts really have anything in common? I examined many old wild man accounts from Ohio, and there are a few comparisons that can be made. Appearance Besides being mysterious and hairy, many old accounts do not have much in common, appearance wise, with modern reports of Bigfoot. Most of the time, the only description is just "ape," "wild man," or "gorilla." However, in several accounts [in Ohio], the appearance of the creature is somewhat similar to today's Bigfoot. The June 7, 1930 report of the Norwalk "ape" from the  Coshocton Tribune  adds the detail that witness John Landoll saw the shape of "what appeared to be a man" as it lumbered away "in anthropoid fashion" into the...

In 2013, Daniel Loxton and Donald R. Prothero's book  Abominable Science! Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids  was published.  This book caused quite a bit on controversy within the cryptozoological field at the time of its release and continues to do so today. Loxton is someone who became interested in cryptids as a kid and believed in the existence of Bigfoot, Nessie, and other monsters at the time, but then became skeptical of their existence, but still interested. Prothero is a paleontologist. I decided to get  Abominable Science!  after hearing Donald Prothero on Colin Schneider's Crypto-Kid podcast a few months ago. I thought Prothero made some really great points about cryptids and the people who search for them, and he and Loxton both do in this book. But then, why do so many people in the cryptozoological community hate it so much? I decided to look into this while the book was on its way. So, I went to the best place to fi...

Your’s truly was on Crypto-Kid with Colin Schneider last night. We talked about my new book Buckeye Beasts most of the time, and in the last 20 minutes or so we talked about “prehistoric “ cryptids like Mokele Mbembe and living pterosaurs. Listen to it below: -Tyler Houck 

Last night, Colin Schneider had Tim Renner and Josh Cutchin on his Crypto-Kid show for a 2-hour special discussing fairy lore and how it could be connected to cryptozoology. They discussed what fairies are, how fairy experiences could be similar to UFO and cryptid reports, fairy folklore from around the world, and much, much more. You can listen to it below: Find Tim Renner's books here . Find Josh Cutchin's books here . For updates on Crypto-Kid, check out Colin's Facebook page. NOTE - I will be on the show with Colin next Monday! -Tyler Houck

On March 31, 2018, Sandra Mansi, famous for photographing "Champ" at Lake Champlain in 1977, passed away after her battle with cancer. Mansi's photo has been promoted by many as the best piece of evidence for any lake monster… while I don't necessarily agree with that, this is very saddening, since Champ was one of the first three cryptids I heard about when I got interested in the subject… An obituary can be found on Loren Coleman's  CryptoZooNews . RIP Sandra. -Tyler Houck

In January of this year, Tim Renner published his book   Bigfoot: West Coast Wild Men .  The book is a collection of old newspaper accounts from California, Oregon, and Washington from the 1800s to early 1900s. It is a somewhat follow-up to his 2017 book  Bigfoot in Pennsylvania . The majority of the book is taken up by the old newspaper accounts themselves. The author focuses on one state at a time, and each state is split up into several chapters, each focusing on a certain time period (ex., Washington 1900-1920). At the end of each chapter, Renner gives a list of the articles and papers they originally appeared in and comments on some of them, either to compare them to modern bigfoot accounts, rule them out as hoaxes or humans, or examine them in some other way. If you are someone interested in historical accounts of wild men or Bigfoot, definitely check out Tim's book. It's not that long of a read but the stories are interesting and some of them are very enter...

In February, Roland Watson published his second book on the Loch Ness Monster -  When Monsters Come Ashore: Stories of the Loch Ness Monster on Land.   As is evident from the title, the book examines sightings of Nessie on land. Some of these encounters are very famous within cryptozoological circles (such as the Spicer and Grant sightings), and some are more obscure. Watson includes stories from the late 1800s to 2009. I recently got and read this book. I have always found the land reports of Nessie quite interesting, and this is the only book that focuses fully on this aspect of the mystery. However, while I wanted to like this book, I found that hard to do. And I will explain why. Roland Watson is definitely on the "believers" side of Nessie-hunters and says so in the book. His description of his  blog  on the subject is "reclaiming the Loch Ness Monster from the current tide of debunking and skepticism." I think that is what ruined this book. While I f...