Monday, February 16, 2004

A photo of a goblin

Here is a really freaky picture. Is it a Chupacabra? Is it an evil creature from the vile pits of Hell!?


Uh, no. It is a plaster goblin that was placed in a dark corner on the Cheddar Showcaves and Gorge in Somerset, England. "The REAL story behind it is that a man ("John," 33, Bournemouth UK) went to Saudi Arabia on a business trip. He met a man who said he had seen a flash of light in a dark cave and snapped a picture, and this is the picture that came out. John obtained a copy of the picture (the locals said it was a djinn, or evil spirit) and brought it back to England in search of a buyer. It turns out that the "djinn" is part of Cheddar Showcaves, a tourist attraction which contains an attraction called "Crystal Quest." Crystal Quest is a dark cave full of Tolkeinesque carvings, intermittently lit by strobe. Cheddar Gorge officials confirmed this and noted that many people had taken pictures of strange things in the cave, after seeing a flash of light and pointing their camera at it. You can still see this statue there. This picture was debunked in Fortean Times "Strange Days #1," 1996, pp.27-28, from which the above information is taken. " Of course, there may still be Chupacabras.

Wednesday, February 4, 2004

Bigfoot Skeletons?

There was a claim by "Pete Kantner" that Archaeologist Dr. Jan Margate discovered the first Bigfoot skeletons while searching for Indian relics east of Seneca in the Malheur National Forest. "This discovery of a gigantic burial mound in the Oregon wilderness has stunned scientists who say that the plot is littered with the bones of hundreds of Bigfoots - the most elusive creatures known to man!" You won't find this in our bigfoot article because the above came from the August 10, 1993, Weekly World News a tabloid that prints fun stories. Read more of it here. If it was legit, you'd see where the Dr. works, you'd be able to find some other story written by Pete Kantner (the supposed author of the article) and you'd be able to look up Dr. Jan Margate on google. There is no Margate in the registry of professional archaeologists. My quick research says the story may have been written by a writer named Chip Rowe. There is a Seneca OR and there is obsidian east of Seneca in the Malheur National Forest. There are Indian artifacts, including a 7,500+ year old obsidian tool workshop.