Strange Times for 18 October 2023
Big cats, swimming deer, and mysterious airborne things stuck in time
Hi everyone: This week I’m trying something new and putting together a shorter WeirdNewsletter on a Wednesday because it’s quite a chore to round up all the news late in the week and write it all up in a short span. So this edition will have fewer stories and when I gather some additional ones and reach a critical mass, I will post again. That means I have to reframe the newsletter since it’s no longer the Weekly Weird News but I still intend to get the items out in a timely manner and with some illustrative commentary.
Mountain lion reported in eastern PA
A resident in the suburban township west of Allentown, PA reported to police a sighting of what he concluded was a mountain lion on Sunday, October 15. He was able to offer a photograph as well. The PA Game Commission was called in to investigate. Mountain lions have been extirpated (eliminated) from PA since around 1900 but recent data showing that lone individuals may travel very far from their native western states, through Canada, and move south looking for territory seems to mean that they are taking such sightings seriously. Unfortunately, people have claimed to see the big cats in PA for the last 100 years but their claims are just tall tales. No good evidence has ever been found that the wild big cats are making their way back here.
The photo was used as reference to place a life-sized cutout of a puma in the same space to determine the size of the animal in the photo. It turned out to reveal the size was far too small, meaning the tan animal in the photo was a domestic cat. Many suburban areas have a serious problem with feral house cats that can grow a bit larger than expected. This finding won’t deter people from believing big cats are out there but it’s a bit absurd to think that a heavily traveled area as this, with lots of highways, dogs, and development would be attractive to an elusive large animal. https://www.mcall.com/2023/10/16/possible-mountain-lion-spotted-in-lower-macungie-determined-to-be-a-feral-house-cat/
Black panther sightings reported every week in the UK
Meanwhile, in the UK, sightings of “black panthers” are making the news every week. Several atrociously bad claims have been circulating to promote belief. The most recent was a video from Sunday, October 15 in Wales, where the witness spotted a black shape in a distance field and stopped to watch it. They were convinced it was “massive” and moved like a large cat, but it was so far away, this claim is rubbish. Black cats seem to be particularly prone to oversizing - I suspect this is because people are not used to the actual size of leopards, jaguars or pumas. And they certainly can’t judge that from far away. https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/23863292.black-panther-caught-camera-field-colwyn-bay/
Apparently they can’t judge from close up, either, if the image is a little ambiguous. A filmmaking crew in the UK have been seeking out all photos of potential big cats for a documentary that clearly has an agenda to push. They have released several photos for public gawking claiming that they have been taken in Britain and show these animals. Sometimes they get experts to make comments (and the experts end up looking really silly because the photos are not as they seem). I showed you one hoax from back in August. People remember the headline and the hype, not these claims are poor and unconfirmed. While it’s not impossible that big cats live in the UK, they are most certainly not as common and widespread as the many attention-grabbing witnesses wish to make you believe. Here is their latest from the week of Oct 6. Once again, this cat may be wild, but it’s not a “big” cat. The filmmakers (yeah, those guys) try to explain the dark coloration as a hybrid of a puma and leopard. When you are having trouble with the first giant leap of logic, leap even further. Why not? https://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/1820654/big-cat-uk-rare-pumapard-photo
Ivory-billed woodpecker remains “protected”
So, yeah, people will see what they believe. Many have claimed to continue to see and hear the ivory-billed woodpecker, a large bird whose population likely went extinct in 1944. In the fall of 2021, the US National Fish and Wildlife Service posted their recommendations of extinct organisms to be removed from the protected list (because they are all dead). A flood of comments came in to support the idea that the IBW is not dead. But, as you know, none of it was convincing, not even very good. However, the NFWS decided to spare the IBW from being axed from the list as they say they will continue to “analyze and review the information before deciding whether to delist the ivory-billed woodpecker.” https://www.fws.gov/press-release/2023-10/21-species-delisted-endangered-species-act-due-extinction
Deer can really swim
Alaska State Troopers monitoring wildlife in the waterways encountered 2 sikta deer 4 miles offshore. The deer swam directly to the boat and were hauled aboard, shivering as the troopers heading to shore to release them. One officer carried them off the boat, where they shook themselves off and trotted away. It turns out that deer are incredible swimmers with great lung capacity. Wildlife officials commenting on swimming deer say it’s not unusual for them to swim for miles. So these two might not have been in such bad shape. But I’m sure they appreciated the ride. https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/video-alaska-troopers-relocate-swimming-deer/
Viral video accompanied by the inevitable kooky comments
Media sources that get their sensationalized news from social media had a blast with this video of a plane apparently hanging in the sky over San Francisco. If you’ve ever been on a plane and saw another plane flying nearby, you know that the relative speed makes things weird. In this case, one plane was traveling faster than the other, and the panning of the camera made the smaller plane appear to stand still. There are MANY of these videos on youtube. The narration by the news anchors in this one don’t help. It is an optical illusion and your eyes are deceiving you. But yahoos online who watch too much sci-fi would rather think the plane is stopped in time or is being held by an invisible energy beam or alien craft.
My blog action
Finally, I wrote a brief review and background about Gef the Talking Mongoose, historically known as the legend of the Dalby Spook. There is a new movie out that attempts to capture the weirdness that existed in a lonesome home on the Isle of Man back in the 1920s. Check it out. https://sharonahill.com/2023/10/17/gef-gets-a-movie/
I’ve relaunched my website SharonAHill.com and expect I will eventually move all my posting there. You can also subscribe to that site by adding your email to the subscribe button in the sidebar. It’s free; I don’t use your data and it’s the nicest thing you can do for me today. Thanks!
Who can’t ID a cat? A house cat! Come on!
That viral video from San Francisco may herald the return of Xenu and his DC-8 spacecraft, surely they could "hover" like that!