Benjamin Radford

Old School News Roundup

This roundup features news related to things that are old.

  • Wichcraft Belief in Malawi Sparks Violence – FEB 11, 2013 04:28 PM ET // BY BENJAMIN RADFORD
    George Thindawa, Executive Director of the Association of Secular Humanism in Malawi, has launched a 3 year campaign to attempt to stamp out belief in magic and witches through public education in hopes of eradicating violence against suspected magic-doers in the country.
  • Latin a Dead Language? Not Really – FEB 12, 2013 08:26 AM ET // BY ROSSELLA LORENZI
    Knowledge of the “dead” latin language led to Giovanna Chirri getting the scoop on the world when Pope Benedict XVI made his farewell speech in the archaic language.
  • Act of God? Lightning Strikes St. Peter’s Dome – FEB 13, 2013 07:45 AM ET // BY MARC LALLANILLA, LIFE’S LITTLE MYSTERIES STAFF WRITER
    The lightning strike in question came within hours of Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation. It is unlikely, however, to have been an act of God due to the fact that locations of religious significance are frequently the highest thing around and thus the thing that is mostly likely to be struck.

Bigfoot Extravaganza

There’s been some Bigfoot news rolling down the pipes of late, so I thought I would put together something about the matter.

The Stories

Kitsu’s Thoughts

Cryptomundo reported the Umatilla howls on January 26th, and this was how I personally came into following the story. The Howls were originally reported by Oregon Live on the 20th. The howls started in November and range “from high-pitched screams to basso profundo roars” according to reporter Richard Cockie from Oregon Live. The sounds being attributed to bigfoot have also been corroborated according to stories by the discovery of a single track in the road (though as far as I can tell, no documentation of the track by way of photos or casting exists).

The recording has been made available online.

(AUDIO)

After giving the file a listen, I can’t help but feel like it is a screaming fox. Despite the statements by Sylvia Minthorn that “Foxes do sound creepy, but it’s not the same sound, not even close.” The screeching even started during fox breeding season.

Then we come to the ABC news coverage of the event…

Good Morning American should not have reported on it unless they could take it seriously. They didn’t even do their research, claiming shriek and roar recordings are a new thing, when they haven’t been new for some time. ABC shouldn’t have bothered.

So… Foxes in the mating season or Bigfoot? My money’s on Foxes.