January 2010

Of all the things I expected to learn about from Cracked.com, the intriguing mystery of Scotland's Overtoun bridge was the last thing on my mind.  Starting in the 1950s or 1960s, dogs began throwing themselves off the Overtoun Bridge, to their death on the rocks or rushing river far below.  

The count varies from 50 dogs to 600 dogs having committed suicide since then, depending on who's doing the counting.  The most recent death was Ben, a collie who flung himself over the side while on a walk with his family in 2005.  Ben landed on the rocks below, and had to be euthanized due to his injuries.  A few dogs have survived the fall, only to leap off the bridge later.  Residents of the nearby town of Dumbarton refer to these dogs as "second timers."


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"Darling it is no joke, this is lycanthropy" - Shakira, "She Wolf"

A strange creature has been sighted in Wisconsin, and the number of sightings has been steadily rising for the last 20 years.  The beast involved is sometimes described as being like Sasquatch, and sometimes more like the old 1940s movie era Lon Cheney werewolf.

Dubbed "The Beast of Bray Road" by one researching author because of the vicinity in which it is most frequently sighted, the cryptid has (naturally) eluded pursuit and frightened hunters for years.  Because of its resemblance to Lon Cheney's werewolf, it is often referred to as a "werewolf."  Many sightings report a canid-looking animal, like a Sasquatch descended from dogs instead of apes.


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Bed BugThe Stranger’s Brendan Kiley recently wrote a disturbing piece about everybody’s second favorite bug (the cockroach of course being the first) the bedbug. In fact, the piece so disgusted me that I immediately became OCD for the first time in my life and not only had to scratch my arm 24 times, but scrub it ferociously as well in solidarity with people who have suffered an infestation.

The cute little bugs apparently reproduce violently and in a way that can kill the female or shorten her life, forcing me to contemplate whether or not the “she was asking for it” defense would have any merit in a bedbug court of law. Once the female bedbugs have reproduced, the bedbugs hide out in mattresses and pillows and are incredibly hard to get rid of.


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In its year end wrap up, Cryptomundo has an excellent article on a cryptid that I hadn't heard of before, the Tsushima leopard cat.  This feline is native to one tiny island, Tsushima, which is part of Japan.  The island is ridiculously small, only 273 square miles, about the same size as a big city like Los Angeles or Atlanta, and is situated in the Korean strait about halfway between Korea and Japan.

The island of Tsushima is divided into two smaller islands by an artificial waterway, thus separating the population of Tsushima leopard cats into two sub-groups.  The Tsushima leopard cat is hanging in on the upper island, which is far less populated than the lower island, and is home to between 80 and 110 of the cats.  


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