Africa, as a continent, is still considered to be a land of great mystery where many secrets are still hidden away from the watchful eye of our modern technological world. For centuries strange stories of bizarre animals that just should not be have made many cast a curious eye towards the dark continent and wonder if perhaps Africa plays host to such creatures as living dinosaurs and the ancient ancestors of mankind that have failed to evolve past their more primate appearance. However, despite these ancient tales of living fossils a more recent addition to the ever expanding cryptozoo has made it’s presence known and basically scares the shit out of those who claim that this creature is a very real threat. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce, Popobawa.

Popobawa, if it exists, is one of those bizarre cryptids that goes so far beyond the imagination it is almost impossible to pin down. The creature who’s name means simply, “Bat-wing” in the Swahili language, has been described in so many different ways many believe this animal could possibly be a shape shifter that can appear in any form that it desires to whomever is unfortunate enough to witness it’s appearance. However, the most common description given by witnesses describes a creature that is three to four feet tall, a human like body colored in a deep blood red, a giant single eyeball is set in the center of the beast’s head and giant bat like wings are said to sprout from the creatures back. The one physical attribute that scares the bejeezus out of many most specifically men, is the giant continously erect penis that the creature sports quite possibly making this evil gargoyle like entity the poster child for viagra.

The women of the Tanzanian island of Pemba, where the creature is believed to haunt need not fear a visitation from this horny little winged imp, however the men are the ones that seriously need to worry for Popobawa craves one thing and one thing only, choice, prime, grade A man booty. It is said that Popobawa pays a visit to a different male subject every night to get it’s proverbial freak on. Popobawa is said to annouce it’s arrival by scratching on the roof of the house of his victims and before it is to late the creature attacks pinning it’s victim to the bed anally raping it’s male victim time and time again before leaving at the break of dawn. When considering the attacks of the Popobawa one can not help but be reminded of the stories that arose out of medievel Europe of succubus and incubus attacks upon humans as they slept. Others believe that what the victims are experiencing is a form of sleep paralysis. The more scientific explanation seems plausible if it were not for the fact that practically every dude in Tanzania has reported being attacked by the evil little beast at least once in their lives.

Like the Chupacabras of Latin America, Popobawa is a fairly recent addition to the world of Cryptozoology. The most popular story concerning the origin of this winged weirdo centers around an insane Sheihk who in the late 1960s, created the beastie from practicing black magic to take revenge upon his enemies. Unfortunately the mad Sheihk lost control of his demonic creation and Popobawa started it’s campaign of being a pain in the ass (Pun totally intended) on the lives of the male population of Tanzania. One curious story from 1971 speaks of a young Tanzanian girl who was possessed by the demonic creature and warned all those present that if they did not spread the word of his existence his attacks would become more furious and more dangerous. Needless to say by the end of the day the dude population became very aware.

Many researchers are highly skeptical concerning the existence of the Popobawa for very good reason. It is widely believed that the creature was a brilliant ploy by the government to create mass panic among the uneducated and highly superstitious populace to keep them in line. When you think about it what better way to keep the male urge of rebellion silent by creating a story of a demonic creature that seeks to rob them of their masculinity. However to play devil’s advocate if the Popobawa does exist just thinking of his depredations sure makes my butt hurt.

Rick E. Hale
t_seeker@hotmail.com

I’m a pretty easy going guy and hate is not a word that usually makes an appearance in my vocabulary, however if there is one thing that makes my blood boil, the one thing that I truly hate is the faking or hoaxing of evidence pertaining to claims of the paranormal. Outright hoaxes have always been a thorn in the side of those who take the study of the paranormal seriously and seek to prove the existense of the otherworldly through scientific methods. Since the early days of photography hoaxing has been there with hucksters attempting to make a quick buck on the backs of the bereaved by claiming to have the ability to capture the apparitions of the dearly departed as the unsuspecting victim sat for their portrait. Cryptozoology is no different folks have done everything from creating finely crafted monkey suits to wooden models of lake monsters and photographing both trying to pass them off as the real McCoy. Recently a couple of Joe Six Packs from Georgia claimed to have the dead body of a Bigfoot, unfortunately this turned out to be the biggest cryptozoological hoax of the last forty years. In case you are new to my entries I will repeat what my personal philosophy is concerning hoaxes, those who fake and hoax evidence are douchebags.

In 1967, an exhibit began making the rounds of carnivals and malls that made an amazing claim. The exhibitor, Frank Hansen stood atop a podium outside his exhibit and yelled, “Come one, come all see the amazing corpse of a wildman encased in ice.” Usually something like this would immediately be seen as a hoax however the strange case of the Minnesota Iceman which appeared to be the dead body of a bigfoot like creature encased in a block of ice, may have been totally and completely legite. Although Mr. Hansen felt he could make a quick buck.

The creature first came to the attention of researchers when a zoology student from the UNiversity of Minnesota plucked down his two bits to see this ancient wonder. When the curtain was pulled back and the iceman was revealed the student came to the conclusion that whatever this thing may be it appeared to be the real deal and immediate attention was required. When the student returned from the carnival he contacted the gentleman who would come to be known as the father of modern Cryptozoology, French cryptozoologist Bernard Heuvelmans. The student explained to Heuvelmans that he had seen a sight that needed to be investigated because it just may prove that hairy bipeds still walk among mankind. Of course the famed researcher was ecstatic at the prospect of having the oppurtunity of examining such a creature upclose and personal.

In 1968 Heuvelmans and his colleague Scottish zoologist, Ivan T. Sanderson first viewed the creature at the Chicago Stock Fair and just knew that they had to do whatever it took to get a closer look at this alleged iced over throwback to an ancient epoch. Bernard and Ivan, made contact with the exhibitor, Frank Hansen asking to take a look at the creature. At first, Hansen was reluctant stating that he was not the owner of the exhibit, Hansen explained that the owner of the iceman was a mysterious wealthy collector that may not take kindly to a couple of scientists trying to disprove the truth of the amazing discovery. The two researchers assured Hansen that they wanted to prove that the iceman was legitimate and show the world that such things do in fact exist and call our world home. Hansen relented and the investigation began.

For three days the researchers examined the iceman closely taking copious notes and hundreds of photographs. In his personal notes, Heuvelmans stated that he and Sanderson could smell putrification from the few spots where the flesh was exposed. In his notes Heuvelmans described the creature as, “Being a hairy bipedal man of no more than six feet tall. His body was covered with a short coat of dark hair approxiamately three to four inches long. The creatures left arm is raised above the head and a deep gash was visible between the elbow and the wrist. It also appears that the right eye of the creature was damaged due to it being dislodged from the socket and hanging over it’s cheek. The penis is clearly visible. I am convinced that this creature is real.” Sanderson agreed with his colleague’s finding so much that while as a guest on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show” during Christmas week of 1968, Sanderson told Johnny of the incredible find and that it constituted an otherwise unknown creature to modern science.

However despite all the efforts of Heuvelmans and Sanderson to legitimize the Minnesota Iceman and bring public attention to it the creature disappeared in the early months of 1969. For months the creature seemed to take a hiatus from the carnival circuit. By the time the creature reappeared, John Napier the chief primotologist of the Smithsonian Institute became involved with the investigation of the Iceman. After much questioning, Frank Hansen claimed that the block of ice that contained the creature melted after a mishap with the refrigeration unit and subsequently the creature decayed to the point that it was buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in Minnesota the creature that was now being shown was nothing more than a mere model. Due to this unfortunate turn of events, Napier and his bosses at the Smithsonian lost interest and declared the whole affair to be an elaborate hoax especially after several Hollywood special effects designers came forth and claimed they had created the creature. Heuvelmans and Sanderson cried foul stating emphatically that the creature they inspected was real and it was impossible to fake the smell of decaying flesh. Sadly, at this point, no one would listen it was believed that the Minnesota Iceman was a hoax perpetrated by a few creative people who saw only dollar signs.

Bernard Heuvelmans would go to his deathbed claiming that the creature he and Sanderson examined was a real specimen of a recently deceased bigfoot type creature he even had a theory as to how the creature came to be in this country. He believed that the creature was a relict Neandertal that was captured and eventually killed by hunters sometime during the Vietnam war. He further believed after the hunters discovered what they had killed they smuggled the creature into the country in a body bag and the mysterious millionaire had the creature froze and put on display. Most researchers reject this theory and believe that whatever the creature may have been was a relict Homo Erectus smuggled into the country from Africa. Whatever the case the mainstream scientific community believes that the Minnesota Iceman was an elaborate hoax. I repectfully disagree.

Rick E. Hale
t_seeker@hotmail.com

I have a little bit of trivia for you What do a millionaire Texas oil man with a cool name, an iconic American actor and the alleged mummified hand of a Yeti all have in common (Play Jeopardy Music now)? Give up? Perhaps the greatest conspiracy to prove the existense of the fabled Abominable Snowman as well as the greatest comedy of errors in the history of the serious study of previously unkown and undiscovered creatures. Allow me to explain.

In 1957, Texas oil man, business man and adventurer extrodanaire, Tom Slick, first heard of the alleged mummified hand of a Yeti hidden away in the Buddhist monanstery of Pangboche, Nepal where for centuries it had been worshipped as as a holy relic by the monks. For years Slick, had been leading expeditions into the world’s largest mountain range, the Himalayas, in a grand search for that most elusive of cryptozoological mysteries, a creature that we had come to know here in the the west as the Abominable Snowman but the citizens who lived and worked along the foothills of the Himalayas knew as the Yeti. Of course Slick, came up short every time never able to find anything more than just footprints which really proved nothing, to the skeptics of the world foot prints in the snow meant nothing, but a known animal that could have left them and the melting and refreezing of the snow made them appear to be something they were not. But the hand of a Yeti, although mummified, could finally be the proof that Tom Slick so desperately sought and he would do anything to have.

In 1958, Tom Slick and his associates paid their first visit to the monastery of Pangboche and immediately inquired of this hand that could possibly prove the existense of a creature that had eluded science for decades. The monks had absolutely no problem showing the gentleman millionaire and his associates the object of their affection, worship and deep devotion afterall they probably figured this was just some guy who wanted to pay his respects. When Slick was brought into the sanctuary of the hand he knew immediately that this was the real deal, the hand of a Yeti. The hand was really nothing more than a few scraps skin and hair hanging precariously to a skeleton. However the hand was twice the size of a normal human man and certainly did appear to be something beyond the ordinary. When Tom Slick, asked the monks if he could take the hand from the monastery for scientific study the monks became enraged and told the adventurer that he and his crew must leave immediately and never return. The hand was the center of their veneration and must never be removed otherwise their small society of holy men would come to ruin. At first Slick and his associates obeyed the demands of the Pangboche monks, however as they were leaving Tom Slick hatched a plan to at least bring a few pieces of the hand back to the west, a plan that would make cryptozoologists the world over look like a bunch of shady characters.

In 1959, Tom Slick, dispatched his close friend and associate, Peter Byrne to the Pangboche monastery not to inquire again if Slick could have the hand to prove to the world that such a creature existed and called one the most isolated regions of the world home. Nope, Slick had a more sinister goal in mind, Slick asked his associate to steal a few bone fragments from the hand without the monks none the wiser. I kind of wonder how it went down. Was it something as elaborate as let’s say Tom Cruise dangling from a rope in Mission Impossible? Highly Unlikely, basically Byrne waited for everyone to be asleep, slipped in, stole a few fragments of bone from the hand and replaced them with the bones from the hand of a mundane human and slipped out. The kindly peaceful monks of Pangboche, Nepal had no clue what so ever that the object of their worship had been so sacriligiously tampered with.

Enter iconic American actor Jimmy Stewart. Byrne was successful in smuggling the bones of the alleged Yeti hand across the borber into India now all they had to do was make it to the good Old U S of A. Slick called upon his close friend and Yeti enthusiast, Jimmy Stewart, to meet his buddy Byrne in India and transport what Slick believed to be the greatest scientific find in history into the west. Jimmy had no problem and borded a plane with the mortal remains of a mystery hidden away in his luggage. And folks are worried about bombs and drugs. After this things get, well how should I say this, pardon my French a little fucked up.

In 1960, the great mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary and naturalist Marlin Perkins made the trip to the Monastery of Pangboche, Nepal not to prove the story that the hand belonged to a Yeti but rather disprove it. Upon inspection of the hand Sir Edmund discovered that several bones were actually attached with string and wire and did not appear to fit with the general make up of the hand, the British Lord immediately announced to the world that the Pangboche Hand, the supposed mummified remains of the hand of a Yeti was a hoax and a fraud. Slick never even had the chance to begin his scientific study of the bones that he and his associates had so crudely acquired, no one would believe them anyway not only had they committed a crime that crossed international borders, who would take their word over the word of Sir Edmund Hillary, the mighty conqueror of Everest.

For a little over thirty years the Pangboche had was considered a fraud despite the efforts of Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman, who became aware of the plot to steal the hand from reading the archives as he prepared the biography of Tom Slick in 1989. Unfortunately the whole affair cast a dubious light on the Texas millionaire and champion of large hairy creatures the world over. However in 1991, Tom Slick would finally be justified when the NBC television program “Unsolved Mysteries” received samples of the stolen bits of the Pangboche hand and shocked the world with it’s analysis. DNA testing was still in in it’s infancy but was quickly becoming an excat science when the bones were analyzed. The testing showed that the tissue of the hand was “Near human” and did not match any primate known to mankind. I’m sure if Hillary and Slick were floating around in the after life Slick turned to Hillary and let out a triumphant, Boo-yah, in your face mother trucker. Just a theory.

I recently heard that Twentieth Century Fox was thinking about making a movie about the whole Pangboche Hand debacle, casting Nicholas Cage as Tom Slick however instead of taking the subject seriously it would be a comedy. I don’t know I think I’ll go and see it. Anyways, the DNA testing and results done by Unsolved mysteries proves to me that the their is truth to the Pangboche hand having once belonged to the fabled Yeti. It has been believed for years that Bigfoot, Yeti and other hirsute denizens of the world’s forests and mountain ranges are perhaps relict populations of the ancient more ape-like ancestors of modern man. The results said the bone fragments were, “Near Human” which to me proves that maybe just maybe the elusive monkey man still walks among us.

Rick E. Hale
t_seeker@hotmail.com
myspace.com/bldrdsun

When the European white devil first landed upon the pristine shores of Australia, they were shocked to discover that not only was the large island populated with an indigenous race of people that looked very much like the folks who populated Africa, but they were surprised to find an entire new world of strange species of animals that went far beyond their wildest dreams. Never in all their days had they encountered animals that carried their young in pouches attached to their bodies or a large animal that hopped around moving faster than the wind. However one animal in particular scared these colonists so bad that they stayed away from the many virginal inland lakes and rivers for fear of being made a snack by this nightmarish creature.

When the explorers met with the aboriginal tribes, the tribesmen described the creature as being a large fur bearing semi aquatic animal with a horse like tale and long sharp tusks that the beast used to run it’s prey through before it made it’s kill. The tribesmen called the creature a Bunyip, which plainly meant “Devil” and this Bunyip was the enemy of all mankind.

Naturally the newcomers were terrified by such stories especially after being showed representations of the beast painted on the walls of caves and hearing the bizarre calls in the middle of the night that the tribesmen told the explorers was the call a Bunyip made before it made a kill. Upon hearing these horrific tales the colonists decided it would be a wise idea to take the council of their native friends and stay far away from the many inland lakes and swamps that dotted the landscape of the land down under.

For many years many researchers regarded the tale of the Bunyip as just another monster tale told by the natives to keep the otherwise unwanted colonists in line or away from their sacred sites that is until 1846 when a shocking discovery was made which seemed to prove the existence of this otherwise impossible animal. While prospectors were mining for gold in the Murrumbidgee river in New South Wales, one of the men discovered a large strange skull half buried under the mud of the river. Believing he may have found something that could make him a rich man he dug the skull up and was shocked by what he saw. The skull was as large as bull and sported two large sharp tusks that protruded from the mouth cavity. The prospector rushed the skull to the Australian Museum in Sydney where scientists declared the skull to be that of the fabled Bunyip, the creature that so terrified the early settlers of the new land.

The alleged Bunyip Skull was put on display in the museum’s main hall and the entire population of Sydney and the surrounding area came to witness the final remains of the fierce beast that had come to be known as Australia’s bogeyman. The display of the fabled creature prompted many to come forward with their own stories of their encounters with the bunyip. Many told their story of coming across the creature while taking an innocent swim in a lake or river or hearing the creature as it let out it’s blood curdling cry of death as the moon came up at night. However, the frenzy was short lived when the skull was stolen never to be seen again. After the dissapearance of the skull the Bunyip went back to being just a legend.

Today the Aboriginal tribes of Australia still believe in the Bunyip and take great pains to avoid the fierce monster. Scientists and other researchers believe the Bunyip may be a racial memory of the mega fauna that once inhabited the island but were hunted to extinction as late as ten thousand years ago. The most likely suspect for the bunyip is believed to be the Diprotodon, the largest semi-aquatic land marsupial to ever walk the earth. The fossils that have been discovered of the Diprotodon seem to match the description of the Bunyip and historians now believe that the skull put on display in 1846, belonged to the ancient marsupial. Or perhaps the Bunyip is another one of the creatures that inhabit the Dreamtime. The Dreamtime is that mystical experience when the ancients created the world and gave life to the aborigines and the all the animals of the earth. Anthropologists tell us that the tribesmen make no distinction between reality and the Dreamtime and they believed that the strange creatures that lived in one world was able to live in another. Perhaps.

Rick E. Hale
t_seeker@hotmail.com

Dedicated To Gladys Hale
Proud member of the Eastern Band Cherokee Nation
And The greatest Grandmother A kid could ever want
At rest with her ancestors October 1st, 1987

When I was a child I was absolutely terrified of thunder storms. When the thunder cracked and the lightning ripped the sky apart I would rush to the nearest safe haven and pray to god that it would soon end. However all that came to an end when I was five years old and my grandma told me that I had nothing to fear because the storm was just the Great Bird or Thunderbird bringing renewal to the Earth. To a kid with an imagination such as mine, all I could think about was a giant bird flapping it’s enormous wings as it flew over head causing the rain to fall and the grass and the crops to grow. What an amazing sight to behold.

The legend of the Thunderbird seems to be a common legend among pretty much all the Native American Nations of North America. The Thunderbird was a being to be respected for it’s power but feared as well. Although my grandmother’s explanation for the storms was charming and it helped me overcome my fear, unfortunately not all stories concerning the mighty Thunderbird can be considered to be so quiant.

In Lawndale, Illinois in the summer of 1977 one eleven year old boy, Jake Lowe, would have a run in with not just one bird of gigantic proportions but two and the experience would leave an indelible mark upon his psyche for all time. Jake and Several of his buddies were behind his house enjoying a game of hide and go seek while they enjoyed the last rays of the warm summer day. Suddenly Jake was torn away from his game when he heard an awful screech come from overhead. Jake looked up and watched as two gigantic black birds with immense wingspans came flying out of the north Jake screamed when he realized that the two winged nightmares were flying directly towards him. The thin wiry boy took off running but was stopped when he realized his feet were no longer touching the ground, one of the deadly birds had Jake in it’s grasp most likely with the full intention of flying the lad away for a late afternoon snack.

Jake screamed and punched at the birds talons as it carried him a good twenty feet into the air. Jake’s mother upon hearing her son’s screams, rushed outside to see the nightmarish sight. Jake’s mother began to scream at the birds and throw rocks and sticks at the winged terrors until they finally dropped her son. Jake, his mom and his friends watched as the two giant black birds flew off into the horizon never to be seen again.

Young Jake Lowe, was lucky that day. There are numerous historical accounts from here in the good old US of A and abroad of colossal birds that fly out of no where and carry off their unsuspecting victims be they dog, goat or human. For the most part the mainstream researcher will tell us that these stories are hoaxes due to the fact that such animals just do not exist. They further claim that when a sighting of a giant bird is seen the witness is seeing a regular bird but their frame of reference is off due to altitude. However according to the fossil record at one time such a bird did exist that would have been capable of carrying off a full grown man. The Teratorn, a colassol bird with a ten to twenty foot wingspan existed during the Pleistocene era and may have existed into relatively modern times. Some researchers believe that it is a slim possibility that a small relict population of these birds have beat all the odds and still traverse the skies even to this day. However others suspect that giant birds may not be birds at all but something far older and far deadlier.

Reports have come from the darkest jungles of Africa and the jungles of South America of the possible existence of living Pterosaurs, flying dinosaurs that lived and supposedly became extinct with the other lizard kings over sixty-five million years ago. In 1994 and 1996 a team of researchers from various scientific disciplines mounted an expedition to the rain forests of Papua New Guinea after hearing stories of a giant flying beast that had a history of terrorizing the locals. The creature called the Ropen, was said to be the size of a man, with an enormous wingspan, a long beak filled with razor sharp teeth and a thick membrounous hide with no feathers. The researchers spoke with many of the natives who claimed to see the Ropen fly overhead at night and dive at unsuspecting folks who would dare to venture out after dark. The natives claim that centered in the chest of the giant flying lizard is a giant light that shines brightly as the Ropen ventues into the night. The locals also claim that when burying their dead they have to dig extra deep because the creature will come at night and dig a fresh corpse up for food. Most mainstream researchers believe that what the locals are seeing is nothing more sinister than an oversized fruit bat which are common in the area, however when it comes to the reports of the bioluminesense that leaves them scratching their heads.

Half a world away on another continent the locals of the Congo region in western Africa tell stories of a giant flying lizard that brazenly descends from the clouds anytime of the day and carries away livestock and children in their greedy little claws. The natives describe the beast as being six feet long with a twenty foot wingspan, powerful talons and a beak filled with rows of dagger sharp teeth. The locals call the creature the Kongamoto or the Breaker of Boats because it is known to attack men as they fish in the various lakes and dive bomb their boats until they are broken. Except for the lacking bioluminesence the creature sounds very much like the Ropen.

Over the last thirty plus years researchers have journeyed to the region and showed pictures of possible suspects to the locals each and every time they pick the picture of a pterodactyl. When told that such a creature has been dead for tens of millions of years and this beast could not possibly be the Kongamoto, the locals become angered insisting that their winged nightmare is a giant flying lizard that they are told should not be.

Some paleontologists tell us that the regions of Africa and South America where such creatures have been witnessed for countless generations by the locals have not really changed that much since the age of the dinosaurs. Sure there have been some minor climate changes but they believe that the ice ages did not reach the equitor and the Congo and New Guinea may have stayed relatively tropical while the rest of the world froze it’s ass off. So it is possibly, however unlikely, that something from that ancient time period may have remained. But would you believe that back here in the good old US of A folks have been witnessing what they describe as being giant flying lizards?

In April 1890, a call went out over all of Arizona for any brave soul who could take down a flying beast that was terrorizing the countryside and claimed that this beast was the mythical Thunderbird. The story of this winged nighmare spread throughout the entire southwest of it’s wings that sounded like thunder and it’s gigantic body blotted out the sun. Many who claimed to have seen the mighty creature told tales of witnessing it as it swooped out of the sky and carried away cattle, dogs and the occasional man. Several intrepid cowboys answered the call and claimed that for the right price, they could capture and kill the beast and show the world that such things still exist.

The locals told the brave monster hunters that the creature left it’s lair as the sun rose over the mountains and flew off for the days hunt. The hunters sat and waited in the brush until they watched as the majestic form of the creature could be seen flying over the mountains just as they were told. They watched in awe as the enormous creature flew towards them letting out a mighty roar that made their blood run cold. As the bird flew overhead the cowboys opened fire. It took several rounds to fell the creature but it came crashing to the ground with a great thud. The mythical thunderbird was dead.

I am well aware that some of you are probably thinking, “Ah bullshit, just another legend of the old west.” Would you believe that their was photographic evidence? When the cowboys brought their kill inot the town of tombstone to collect their reward a reporter and a photographer met them a picture of the beast was taken with the proud cowboys standing over the bagged beast and a story was written up. In the April 26, 1890 edition of the “Tombstone Epitaph”, the story of the beast and the brave men was written, the beast was described as having a twenty-five foot wingspan and looked more like a lizard than a bird. Thus ends the strange story of the Arizona Pterosaur, the picture and the story have been lost to time although a few researchers claimed to have seen it.

The Legend of the Thunderbird has always been one of my favorite cryptozoological mysteries not just because of the story my grandmother told me but because it would seem almost every culture has a story of a giant flying creature. Perhaps there is some truth to the myriad of stories of dragons and great birds because they are still among us flying on wings of thunder.

Rick E. Hale
t_seeker@hotmail.com