Former heavyweight boxing champion-turned-Bigfoot hunter Nikolai Valuev joins host Mark Evans as they investigate the Almasty.
For those of you who have not had the chance to watch the first episode of the excellent show Bigfoot Files, you can watch it in its entirety here:
The show is well-worth watching, and is an example of the type of programming cryptozoology needs more of. Bigfoot Files takes a scientific approach to the search for answers to the mystery of Bigfoot, following genetics professor Bryan Sykes in his analysis of DNA extracted from hair samples provided to the Oxford-Lausanne Collateral Hominid Project (OLCHP).
The first episode had some pretty amazing (in my opinion) results on some supposed Yeti hairs. And while the description for Bigfoot Files: Episode 2 sounds less than enthusiastic…
…Professor Sykes reveals the results of his DNA tests on the hair samples he’s collected. Will the results confirm the Bigfootologists’ stories or will it be bad news?
…Episode 3, the finale of the three-part series, sounds much more promising. From the British Channel 4 description for Episode 3 of Bigfoot Files:
The ‘Almasty’ is Russia’s very own Bigfoot. It has been written about for over 300 years, and Russia’s Almasty hunters claim there have been over 10,000 encounters over the years.
The big theory in Russia is that it’s a surviving hominid, possibly even a Neanderthal.
Mark Evans travels to Russia and investigates one of the highest profile Bigfoot stories in the world: the tale of Zana, the so-called Wildwoman: a living Almasty said to have been found in the remote Caucasus in the 1870s.
She was alleged to have had four children by her captors over the years. Almasty hunters have tracked down her descendants and Bryan Sykes uses cutting edge tests to analyse their DNA and test the Neanderthal theory about Zana.
Mark also meets a giant among Almasty hunters, seven foot tall former heavyweight boxing champion of the world Nikolai Valuev, who is now Duma Deputy (the equivalent of an MP) for Kemerovo in Siberia.
Mark joins him as he checks out the latest hot Almasty sighting and meets the three kids who claim to have captured one on camera near a frozen lake.
Finally, in Moscow, Professor Sykes reveals the results of his DNA tests on Zana’s relatives. The results are unequivocal, extraordinary and totally unexpected (emphasis mine).
I for one, am waiting with baited breath on Professor Bryan Sykes’ announcement of what he has found in the DNA of the relatives of Zana. If we look at the description, it sounds like 1.) his results will leave no doubt as to their veracity; 2.) we know that it is not something mundane, e.g. they’re not just normal humans; and 3.) it’s not what we would expect. I would expect the results to come back either purely homo sapiens OR neandertal-human hybrid. But could it be something other?
Will Zana’s relatives be something more than either human or neandertal?
And while I think a human-bear hybrid would be totally unexpected… I don’t think that’s the case here. 😉 I guess we will just have to wait.
“The Incredible Bionic Man” makes his debut at the Washington Air and Space Museum.
A first-ever walking, talking “bionic man” built entirely out of synthetic body parts made his Washington debut on Thursday.
The robot with a human face unveiled at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum was built by London’s Shadow Robot Co to showcase medical breakthroughs in bionic body parts and artificial organs.
“This is not a gimmick. This is a real science development,” museum director John Dailey said.
I’ve always wondered when and how someone would do this: take all of the existing bionic technology we have today… artificial organs, limbs, etc… and combine it into a single walking, talking being. However, there’s one element that’s missing… the human soul.
Which is why I suspect in this video below Bertolt Meyer, the man who contributed his facial features to the robot, has such intense feelings towards the android upon first seeing it… it is essentially wearing his face. Meyers is experiencing the creepiness of “the Uncanny Valley,” that is, the point where something is close to being human but not quite there yet, which often elicits feelings of fear and repulsion.
The 6-foot-tall (1.83 meter), 170-pound (77-kg) robot is the subject of a one-hour Smithsonian Channel documentary, “The Incredible Bionic Man,” airing on Sunday.
A “bionic man” was the material of science fiction in the 1970s when the television show “The Six Million Dollar Man” showed the adventures of a character named Steve Austin, a former astronaut whose body was rebuilt using synthetic parts after he nearly died.
The robot on display at the museum cost $1 million and was made from 28 artificial body parts on loan from biomedical innovators. They include a pancreas, lungs, spleen and circulatory system, with most of the parts early prototypes.
“The whole idea of the project is to get together all of the spare parts that already exist for the human body today – one piece. If you did that, what would it look like?” said Bertolt Meyer, a social psychologist from the University of Zurich in Switzerland and host of the documentary.
The robot was modelled after Meyer, who was born without a hand and relies on an artificial limb. He showed off the bionic man by having it take a few clumsy steps and by running artificial blood through its see-through circulatory system.
Abominable Snowmen book and my mummified “Yeti” finger.
I was tipped off to this news several months ago (and again a few days ago) that Oxford University geneticist Dr. Bryan Sykes would be announcing some “unexpected results” concerning his DNA study of supposed Yeti hair samples. Well, now those results are being officially announced to the world, and I would think it’s safe to say they are not what anybody had expected, but no less amazing in my opinion.
For centuries, tales of the Yeti, an elusive but terrifying creature said to roam the inhospitable Himalayan Mountains, have enthralled curious minds.
Now, research by a leading UK geneticist may have unlocked the truth about the Yeti, or Abominable Snowman, after hair samples from two mystery animals proved to be a genetic match to an ancient polar bear.
The findings, to be explained in “Bigfoot Files,” a documentary series on Britain’s Channel 4 TV network, are the work of Bryan Sykes, a professor of human genetics at Oxford University.
He put out a worldwide call last year for people to submit hair or other tissue from “cryptids,” or previously undescribed species, and collected more than 30 samples for analysis.
Sykes’ research focused on two samples in particular, both from the Himalayas but found about 800 miles apart, one in the Ladakh region and the other in Bhutan.
To his surprise, testing found a 100% match with a polar bear jawbone from Svalbard, the northernmost part of Norway, that dates back between 40,000 and 120,000 years, according to a news release from Channel 4.
First of all, the sheer fact that, yes, the Yeti is indeed a real living “prehistoric” animal and not just the stuff of legends anymore, is enough to get excited about. So yes, I am elated to hear this news coming from an extremely reputable source like Dr. Sykes and Oxford University. If anything, it shows that there’s sometimes much more than just a grain of truth to sightings and descriptions of legendary cryptids, that they are not just some imaginary creation made up by the locals.
Second, this confirms my own suspicions about the possible identity of the Yeti, in that it may be something altogether different from Sasquatch. For years I had erroneously made the same assumption that most people do, that is, lumping the Yeti in with Bigfoot and Almas, in that I had always believed they were all some sort of related bipedal primate. That is, until I began collecting Bigfoot prints for the Museum of the Weird.
When I first received a cast made from the original Tom Slick Yeti print retrieved on one of his Nepal expeditions, I was stunned. Now I don’t proclaim to be a scientist nor am I an expert in animal tracks, but even to my layman’s eyes these did not look anything like the Bigfoot casts I had already amassed! In fact, when I first saw the Tom Slick cast, my first thought was, “this is fake.” It just didn’t look like what I thought a Yeti print should look like (which in my mind, would be like a Bigfoot print). Once I realized that, yes, what I had was indeed a copy of the actual Tom Slick Yeti print and not a phony, my second thought was, “this could be a bear.” It was an an eye-opening revelation.
Here for your consideration is a side-by-side comparison of the Tom Slick Yeti print and a Bigfoot print (one of the “Grays Harbor” casts), both on display in the Museum of the Weird.
The Bigfoot print is nearly twice the length of the Yeti print, and the Yeti print has only four visible toes.
Look at the difference in size and shape, and let us know what your thoughts are.
The photo snapped by Ms. Sicuro’s son that shows the ghostly girl.
Why do all ghost kids look so creepy? Couldn’t they ever be playing, laughing or smiling?
RAVENNA, Ohio – A local ghost story is getting new attention.
Lu Ann Sicuro has lived in her Ravenna home for 20 years. She says she’s experienced some strange and frightening paranormal activity.
She hears voices, noises in the closets and door knobs jiggling.
She claims the proof is in a photo taken by her son a few years ago. It shows a little girl’s image in the window.
Lu Ann said what was captured on camera is quite disturbing and very bizarre.
“I feel that this image is a very good photo of something paranormal caught on camera,” she said
Lu Ann thinks the girl is roaming her halls at night.
“A very disturbing photo. It appears to be an image of a child. I believe the image in the photograph shows what is in our home,” she said. “I’ve heard giggling, I’ve heard little footsteps.”
Two teams of paranormal investigators checked out the house and have confirmed a presence.
This morning a group of Sasquatch researchers have announced their findings after a five year study into the phenomenon of Bigfoot.
New photos and videos filled with never before seen images were released Tuesday by a group known as the Sasquatch Genome Project. They were in Dallas Tuesday to unveil its findings.
Dr. Melba Ketchum, a genetics scientist led the project. “We want people to understand this is a serious study,” said Ketchum.
The five-year study costs more than $500,000. It was funded by businessman Adrian Erickson.
Erikson says he has had numerous encounters with Sasquatch creatures–and says he has the images and science to back their existence. But he says he also understands the stigma and disbelief that comes with BigFoot.
“People have chosen not to believe it. They can’t find it in their minds to think these things exist.”
So the group of researchers and scientists set out to track what they call the furry people.
The group says it followed a mother and daughter in Kentucky collecting thermal imagery, daytime and nighttime video, along with, photos of massive hand and footprints.
The group says there are thousands of these creatures in the United States including right here in North Texas.
But the strongest evidence the group says its has is DNA evidence. They say it is like nothing that has been seen before in mammals or humans.
Austinot.com’s Dave Thomas (left) with Museum of the Weird owner Steve Busti
We had a great article written about us by David Thomas today for the popular Austin blog austinot.com. If you’re not familiar with the Museum of the Weird, this is a great preview of some of the things you might find here!
Austin is weird, right? It’s how we’ve branded the city.
We’ve all seen the tie-dye shirts, but how weird is Austin really? Is it mermaid mummy weird? Is it shrunken head weird? The Museum of the Weird on 6th St. is that weird.
The Iceman Cometh
When Steve Busti was just a young lad, he went with his aunt to a K-Mart. In the parking lot was a man with a truck, taking money from a line of people as they peeked into the back of it.
Steve’s aunt paid the man and lifted Steve up so he could see into the back of the truck. He came face to face with the world famous Minnesota Iceman – an ape-man frozen in ice, of controversial origin, which has attracted the attention of the FBI, Smithsonian Museum, U.S. Customs and Vice President Walter Mondale. The world famous moniker is not hype. The Iceman has attracted the attention of international paleontologists and scientists.
First impressions are important. If Steve Busti had never met the Iceman, I may not be writing this story. “If I hadn’t seen the Iceman at such a young age, I’d probably be an accountant or lawyer or something and there would be no Museum of the Weird,” Steve said with a grin. It’s interesting how things work out.
Steve and his wife opened Lucky Lizard Curios and Gifts in 2005. “It’s a reflection of both our personalities,” he informed me. “She has locally made jewelry and I have my oddities.”
The museum grew from there. Steve took advantage of the extra space in the back of the store and above it, and he’s slowly amassed an impressive collection over the last eight years, with his most prized possession being the Iceman. Steve’s acquisition of the Iceman has gained the attention of national media outlets like The Huffington Post.
This is a photo of the creepy clown spooking residents of Northampton.
“He doesn’t juggle. He doesn’t twist balloons into animal shapes. He just stares.”
Those were the details reported by the Northampton Herald and Post today, and may be part of the reason locals are feeling a bit unnerved by a mysterious stranger dressed in full clown makeup who began standing outside their homes in a town north of London.
Appropriately enough, the clown first appeared on Friday the 13th.
Here’s the story as reported by the Herald Sun:
IS this some kind of joke?
A clown – with red wig and full make-up and sometimes holding balloons – is freaking out residents of one English town, the local paper reports.
He is red-haired and white faced and has surfaced several locations across Northampton, a town of 215,000, 100km north of London, over the past few days since his first appearance on Friday the 13th.
The Northampton Clown – which has exploded on social media in the UK – has even sparked a police warning.
Now personally I don’t suffer from coulrophobia (fear of clowns), but if I saw this guy standing outside my window, I still think I’d freak out!
A woman alleged that the clown had knocked on her door in full clown attire before then offering to paint her window sills.
Many have been left feeling frightened by the clown.
The ghostly image of a young woman can be seen in the door window.
Here’s an interesting and creepy photo. You can see through the door window what appears to be a young woman peering in. Supposedly taken by the woman’s husband, they claimed there was no one else in the room at the time. So if it isn’t a reflection, what could it be?
A New Hampshire man noticed an unexpected guest in one of his friend’s Facebook photos recently. He posted the odd image of his friend and her dog onReddit last week.
On August 20, 2013, Daniel Tanner noticed a ghostly figure in one of his friend’s Facebook photos. In the photo, Tanner’s friend is seen kneeling with her dog posing for a photo, and in the reflection of the door behind her, a ghost of a young woman is seen peering at them.
“My friend has been claiming for months that her house is haunted. Her husband took this pic a few days ago,” Tanner said in the post with the attached image under his MulberryPlacebo screen name.
According to Tanner, the only people in the house at the time the photo was taken was the woman and her husband.
A few Redditors weighed in with opinions. Most of them thought it was fake or edited. Some thought the figure was a reflection in the glass.
“I believe it’s just a reflection, of what, I can’t say, could be a living person, could be a statue, could be a painting. In my opinion, this is not paranormal. Rule of thumb is never trust something seen in a mirror or piece of glass. Reflections can be absolutely anything. If I had to speculate, I’d go with a living person standing to the right of the photographer,” User Jack Shid said.
One Redditor even analyzed the photo for editing by uploading it to FotoForensics. According to him the photo is genuine.
“Other than the bar that was put over the friend’s eyes, the photo doesn’t seem to be edited. Either it’s a reflection or there is indeed a ghost,” User Kyranmat posted after he uploaded the image to FotoForensics.
User Ariandre pointed out that the ghostly woman can still be seen in the inverted image, only the figure was behind the woman instead of a reflection in the window.
“The creepy thing is the second one you did now makes it look like the girl is in front of the door instead of a reflection. You can almost make out an outline of her whole body,” Ariandre said.
An expert photo analyst with over 15 years of experience ran a detailed analysis of the image.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FLASHBACK COMICS RETURNS WITH MUSEUM OF THE WEIRD!
Steve Busti, owner of the world-famous Museum of the Weird in Austin, Texas, proudly announces the relaunch of Busti’s original comic book company from the 90’s, Flashback Comics, with their first new title in almost 20 years: Museum of the Weird!
Busti is returning to the comics industry, where he got his start in 1994, with a new comic series inspired by his own acclaimed tourist attraction in Texas. He says the stories will be along the lines of an anthology, inspired by individual exhibits in the museum’s collection, but tied together by a cast of characters, including none other than a fictionalized version of Busti himself.
“The Museum of the Weird comic will have a heavy supernatural influence”, Busti says, “as well as deal with stories of the fantastic and the unexplained, which includes delving into subjects such as aliens, ghosts and cryptozoology.”
The first issue, a special preview edition numbered #0, is available now at the Museum of the Weird’s gift shop, Lucky Lizard Curios & Gifts, and through their website, luckylizard.net. It features original stories and art by Steve Busti, Lyle Blackburn and Eerie Eric. The series is planned to be available quarterly, with the next issue coming in early January 2014.
While this may not particularly seem like “weird” news to you, I say you can file this under the “Anything is Possible” category. Through sheer will and determination, and in the face of overwhelming odds, this woman has achieved what most would say is the impossible.
Diana Nyad has just earned her long-saught after moment of triumph, and completed the historic swim from Cuba to Florida. Prior to this accomplishment, she had attempted the trek on four previous attempts, all coming short. But did that stop her? HELL NO!
Congratulations, Ms. Nyad, your victory is a victory for the whole human race, as you’ve reacquainted us with the age-old lesson that anything is possible!
