ANIMAL FORTEANA


In the beginning of things men were animals and animals men. ~ Algonquin saying

"For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much — the wheel, New York, wars and so on — whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man — for precisely the same reasons." ~ The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Thursday, January 15, 2015



Oh, I wish I had a camera with me today! The field next to the playground -- full of geese. Hundreds of geese. They hang out there all the time. I see them flying over our house and know they're on their way to that field, -- a few fields really -- since it's only about four blocks away. Anyway, there the geese are, calmly standing around Kids playing on the playground alongside the field. Suddenly, the entire flock just rises up into the air, making these odd sounds, sort of like distress calls but not exactly, not really that. Never heard that sound before. I couldn't see anything that set them off -- any other bird, etc. The geese flew right above our heads on the playground --- and the kids! The children just ran and laughed and screamed and ran, while the geese circled low above us. Then the geese did this spiral kind of thing -- like a crop circle in the air. They just kept circling above us, then flew right back to where they were, and settled down like nothing had happened. Those geese have been there all winter, and are used to the children playing out there -- a fence divides the playground from the fields -- maybe the geese were just saying hello.
One thing that struck me as amazing was the reaction of the children. They were just so … there. Really in tune with the geese, enjoying every moment of this geese weirdness. More like wonderfulness. 

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Rabbits: The Strange, the Satire, and the Synchronicity

Last night 's Ghost Adventures was about Tennessee’s Bell Witch. (As with most of their episodes, I wished they had used a psychic medium as part of their investigation.) Among the ghostly events surrounding the Bell Witch phenomenon, is the hybrid entity that appears at times to witnesses. A black creature with the head of a rabbit and body of a dog. 

I find that aspect fascinating, as I do most cryptid type sightings. Ghostly or otherwise, if it involves animal or animal like beings, I’m there. For whatever reason, rabbits seem to intrigue me. They’re cute of course, but at the same time, I’ve always felt an aura of something else going on behind that assumed innocence and cuteness. I wouldn’t say I’m afraid of rabbits -- I’m not -- or find them sad and sleazy, like clowns. Just...something. Maybe it’s the history of folklore and trickster mythos surrounding rabbits that lingers.



Of course, the Bell Witch rabbit-dog is on the sinister side. 

This morning brought with it rabbit synchronicity. First, this item in Eugene’s Register Guard about a man frustrated with a feral rabbit invasion: Voracious Rabbits Plague Culver Man.   (Personally, he sounds like a grumpy old man. $150 damage in flowers, frustrating sure but come on. Complaining about gas money to relocate the rabbits, where he can then legally either shoot them and eat them, or, turn them over to an animal sanctuary. No matter what alternatives are offered by the city he's not satisfied.)

Then on my Facebook page, this New Yorker cartoon:




And this, which I don't quite get, but there it is: