Ebu Gogo Tourist Scam

Some Indonesians are cashing in on the Homo floresiensis interest by offering to take visitors to look at "Ebu Gogo" -- in reality just some really short local people. (News source.)

A Mammoth Hoax

I've uploaded the latest article to BioFortean Review, reprinting a newspaper hoax from 1873 about living mammoths being seen in Siberia.

Going out on a Limb...

I'm going to say the human-headed snake is a fake...

WV Ostrich Egg Was Joke

Not unsurprisingly, someone has stepped forward to admit to planting an ostrich egg in the woods of West Virginia for fun. (News source.)

One-Legged Snake

A Chinese woman killed what looks like a "one-legged snake." (News source.)

The leg is coming out of the snake's stomach region, however, so despite the similar coloration, it doesn't look like it actually belongs to the snake.

Bigfoot Hoax

A woman reporting a Bigfoot sighting in Connecticut actually saw a "16-year-old dressed in a gorilla-like costume." (News source.)

Australia/New Zealand

A "lynx-sized mountain lion" (i.e., too small to be an actual mountain lion) was photographed in the Lindis Pass, New Zealand. Photograph has no good detail, subject is too far away, and it may just be a large feral cat. (News source.)

A hoax photo of a "giant snake" is circulating in the Doomadgee region of Australia. (News source.)

A Yowie sighting has been reported from the area near "The Three Sisters," in Australia. (News source.)

Yes, They're Fake

Who exactly is being fooled by these obvious fake photos of a giant snake in Borneo?

Mermaid Hoax

There was a mermaid hoax in the Philippines, with the rumor going around that a university marine lab had been given one found on the coast. It's uncertain whether a dugong stranding might have been responsible, or if it was a complete fabrication. (News source.)

Not Quite

Big tracks in Australia are likely from a canine, not a feline. (News source.)

Apparently this passes for news today: The RCMP has not captured a live Sasquatch. (News source.)

Big Cat Fake

A UK newspaper published a fake big cat sighting photo, created from a Youtube video the hoaxers found online. (News source.)

British Tourist Gag Becomes UAE Hoax

A plaster goblin in a UK tourist cave has been photographed and turned into an Arabian monster email hoax. (News source.)

Another Fuzzy Video

A black "panther" video was taken in Wisconsin -- it's just a dark-colored housecat. Doesn't look anything like a cougar or any melanistic exotic feline. (News source.)

"Cougar" Attack Called Hoax

The PA Game Commission has, after testing the evidence, been unable to find anything that points to a cougar as the animal that allegedly jumped a Lancaster County man. They think it is a hoax.

Now, it may be a hoax, or it may be misidentification/exaggeration by fear. This never did sound like a cougar incident to me, but I am concerned about the hoax charge (and the statement that they may file charges against the man) -- if it was not a deliberate hoax, this may create further impediment for future potential witnesses. (News source.)

Chinese Farmer Sentenced for Tiger Pics

The Chinese farmer who faked pictures of a tiger for reward money has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison. (News source.)

Tall Tales in Virginia

Southampton County, VA, residents are falling for conspiracy stories that wildlife officials have released rattlesnakes via helicopter... (News source.)

The same rumors of secretive predator introductions have been spread (whether of rattlesnakes, mountain lions, or coyotes) throughout North America, and even in other parts of the world ("viper introductions" in France, etc.).

Good Way to Get Run Over

Jump out in the road, dressed in a gilly suit, trying to scare people... (News source.)

Monkey from Mars

An interesting old UFO hoax using a dead monkey is reviewed here.

Australia: Lake Shark Debate

There's some controversy over a supposed "great white shark" that got entangled in some fishing nets in Tuggerah Lake; some are claiming hoax. (News source.)

China Tiger Hoax

More on the Chinese tiger hoax here...

Lost Tribe Wasn't

The images of an alleged "lost tribe" in the Brazilian-Peruvian Amazon border turned out to be an isolated tribe that was known since 1910. The photos were deliberately released (and story concocted) as a publicity stunt to increase political pressure on logging companies that might endanger any actual unknown people groups in the region. (News source.)

Photographer's Troubles

The Chinese man who claimed to have photographed a South China tiger has been detained by police... (News source.)

More on "Borneo Bigfoot"

From the news:

"The giant footprints found in a fishing village in Daro are a fake.
"'It's man-made and a hoax,' Sarawak Museum anthropologist Dr Charles Leh said last Saturday while dismissing news reports that the two sets of footprints found in a village in Mukah division were those of 'Bigfoot', an ape-like creature said to be found in North America.
"He said the hoax may be an attempt to attract people to Daro.
"Leh, who is also the assistant director of the museum, based his opinion on an analysis of the published photographs." More at the site.

Another on Selbyville

I'm not sure why, but there's another article on the Selbyville Swamp Monster hoax here.

Bigfoot Hoax in Montana

Not much to note, but it made the news...

Hoax?

An odd little story out of Mississippi: (News source.)

"According to police, two postal workers and two parents picking their children up from school claimed to have seen a huge primate run into the woods behind the post office shortly after 2 p.m.
"Because all the accounts were separate instances, School Resource Officer Lt. Terry Sanford said he doesn’t doubt that people saw something, but he’s almost sure it wasn’t a gorilla.
"'We got a few calls about the gorilla, but we didn’t see anything,' said Sanford. 'People said they saw the animal run into the woods. I think what they saw was a person dressed in a suit trying to get a reaction out of people.'
"A local costume dealer said a man and a woman bought a gorilla head and hands Tuesday, stating that they already had a suit."

April Fool's Roundup

Why, yes, Virginia, there are April Fool's monster stories out today...

The Loch Ness Monster was captured.

Welsh yetis are on the rampage.

Crocodiles have invaded the Tennessee River.

Now, if only Amazon's hijacking of the print-on-demand book industry was a joke...

[Update: and more... an Alaskan bigfoot, and a Michigan crocodile.]

Another China Tiger Hoax

China is unhappy with a tv reporter who apparently faked a wild tiger video, using a circus animal. (News source.)

Chinese Gov't and the Tiger Photo

Chinese officials are going to continue their search for South China tigers despite evidence that the photo recently publicized is a fake. Looks like they may be planning to create a tourist draw in the area. (News source.)

Rumors and Big Cats

Stories and rumors in Southern Illinois have government helicopters dropping cougars into woodlands to take the deer population down. What's the farm-country counterpart to an urban legend; a rural myth? (News source.)

Some People Like a Good Story

From a news column on tale-tellers (who do appear in the odd investigation):

"Junior Jones could tell a good story.
"As a college student, I worked at a Min-A-Mart where Junior was a regular. He'd stand around drinking coffee. I didn't charge him because I didn't want him to leave.
"Co-workers would get annoyed and go fill the beer cooler.
"I'd listen to Junior tell tales.
"Later, I learned that Junior was the one who created a minor media frenzy a few years earlier when he reported seeing Bigfoot in the woods near Dansville.
"He got the cops involved and the newspapers wrote about him and TV crews interviewed him.
"Soon, others piped up to say that, indeed, they'd seen it too.
"What a character."

Manitoba Sasquatch Hoaxter

Manitoba Mounties responded to a call near Whiteshell Provincial Park about a creature that scared a camper. From the news:

"'This was further to about 10 calls we had last year of the same incident in the Whiteshell Provincial Park, so the members were aware of the type of person we were looking for,' Staff Sgt. Glen Reitlo told CBC News Wednesday.
"'A couple of our members attended and ended up finding the sasquatch.'
"The creature turned out to be an 18-year-old Winnipeg man wearing a hairy gorilla mask, which Reitlo described as 'ugly' and 'scary.' ...
"Reitlo said the man was not intoxicated when nabbed by officers; he apparently had been camping in the area over the past two summers and simply enjoyed the prank."