Phantoms and Monsters

Cryptid Sightings: Jefferson / Orange Counties - Texas Gulf Coast
Photos: 'Ghost' Appears In Two Photos From Different Tours
Fortean / Oddball News - 7/23/2010
Mande Burung Expedition Planned

Cryptid Sightings: Jefferson / Orange Counties - Texas Gulf Coast

Posted: 23 Jul 2010 11:10 AM PDT

I received the following email from Vidor, Texas in reference a cryptid sighting in or near Rose City, Texas approximately 10 years ago. After reading this email, it reminded me of sightings I had read about in the same general area. I decided to see what I could find:

"I do not know about all the things you talk about, but my recently deceased Uncle Albert once told me of his grandfather having seen a big foot in Arkansas. A local man shot what he thought was a bear. They hung it in the town square until it started to stink up the place. The county is to the east of the county they made the big foot movie about. I do not have any verification."

"About 10 years ago in Rose City, Texas, I drove around the curve on highway 90 just before the railroad crossing to IH-10. Standing in the grass next to the ditch/slew between the two railroads I saw a creature I have never seen in any book or anywhere else. It was upright like a man. It was as tall as a buck dear, but had a shape & stance more like a rooster. It's eyes were very expressive. It's expression was like 'oh no, you aren't suppose to see me', but not afraid. It had a ridge that was variegated and reminded me of a child's hoola-hoop in shape/design. That ridge went up it's chest, face, over the head and down it's back like a horses mane. It's skin was light tan like deer fur, but had a soft scaled appearance. It moved very fast. I assume it went into the stagnant water behind him because it was gone before I got to the curve where it had been standing. I did not get out or stop since I was by myself."

Vidor, TX resident

NOTE: That's an excellent description and one that I have never heard before. Any ideas? Sounds like a creature that would definitely be from the 'other side'...Lon

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The following is a BFRO Class A report from a sighting just east of Rose City, TX in Orange, TX:

Report # 21438 (Class A)
Submitted by witness on Sunday, September 02, 2007. Late Night Sighting by Motorist near I-10

YEAR: 2007

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: August

DATE: 13

STATE: Texas

COUNTY: Orange County

NEAREST TOWN: Orange

NEAREST ROAD: Womack rd

OBSERVED: my mom and I where driving home from a friends house and we noticed a very large man crouched on the side of the road so we turned the car around to see if he needed help by the time we had returned he was gone so we continued on are way and about a quarter of a mile down the road we saw a very large thing cross the road in two steps it walked upright had very dark brown red shaggy fur and it had to have been 7.5-8 foot in height after we witnessed this we where pretty spooked so we didn't stick around

ALSO NOTICED: I noticed that it had pulled up some wild onions

OTHER WITNESSES: one other witness

OTHER STORIES: yes a close family friend said that he had seen it at the same location about 20 years ago

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 9:01pm fairly light hot and dry

ENVIRONMENT: farmland with swampy woods about a mile east of sighting location

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator D.A. Brake:

The witness was interviewed in detail by phone. The witness was a passenger in the car driven by her mother and was traveling approximately 40 mph when it passed the crouched animal with its back to the road approximately 10-20 ft off the passenger side of the road. They continued approximately ¼ mile down the road, turned around and started back to the area of the sighting moving at a slower speed of 25-30 mph. Their car continued past the point of the first sighting at which point another car was noticed approaching from the other direction.

In the headlights of both cars, the witness described seeing a bi-pedal animal cross the road approximately 150 feet in front of their car, moving from left to right. She described the creature as moving at a fast walk, slightly hunched forward and having a pointed head, unusually long arms with hair on its back, chest and upper thighs. She also described the animal as having an athletic build and weighing at least 400 lbs. The animal did not turn its head toward either car while crossing and appeared to be carrying root-like objects in its left hand. When the creature reached the other side of the road, it briefly stopped and looked left and right and then disappeared into the tall bushes. The animal was not observed by the time the car passed the point where the animal had entered the bushes. They continued up the road and then turned around and started back in the original direction they were headed and do not see anything further.

The next morning the witness and mother returned to the point of the sighting where the creature was first spotted crouching by the road. The witness looked around the area and noticed that the ground had been dug up and described it as looking similar to what a wild pig may do when feeding on plants and roots. She also noticed several broken branches about 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter about 4-5' off the ground. No footprints were observed and the witness commented that it had rained late the previous night and into that morning.

The witness lives approximately 10 miles from the area of the sighting and travels this same road 3-4 times a week. A Union Pacific railroad line runs parallel to the road. The area of the sighting is fairly rural with forested hardwoods and pines with sporadic swamps and farmland on both sides of the road. The witness spends a lot of time outdoors hunting and fishing and is familiar with the indigenous animals of the area.

BFRO Investigator D.A. Brake

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The following account is from a sighting in an area by the Neches River near Beaumont, TX...not far from the sightings posted above:

"Two friends and I were fishing in South Texas on the bank of the Neches River about three in the afternoon. We had been there about four hours when my friend said something about hearing something in the woods behind us. We all had been hearing it but were not concerned and did not think it was important."

"Anyway, my friend Tim turned around and almost had a heart attack. He just kind of whimpered because he was too scared to talk. It is funny now but was rather serious then. Anyway, we all turned around to see a very large animal standing just outside of the treeline looking at us as if he wanted something. Well needless to say we did not stick around to see what it wanted. We all backed into the water about ten or fifteen feet and then walked down the river until we were at least fifty feet downriver from it."

"The thing we saw was a good six and a half to seven feet tall with hair all over it. It did not appear mean and I think if it was I would not be telling you about it. Anyway, we left. Only thing was we left all our gear so we went back the next day to get our stuff and found the darnedest thing. All our stuff was there except the stink bait. The can was there but the bait had been scooped out and I guess eaten. I don't know if it had eaten it or what but I think that is what it was there for in the first place. It smelled our bait and thought maybe it could get an easy meal."

"When I think back on it now I can't help but think that if we had not left when we saw it then it would probably just have left. It did not seem mean or aggravated at all. We were just scared anyhow. That is my story. I swear its true. My name is Thomas Vick. I won't tell the names of my friends but can tell you they, like me, will never forget that day. But you know I feel very fortunate to be able to say that I have seen what I've seen and I think that it is really cool. By the way, we were fishing on the bank of the Neches River near Beaumont, Texas."

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This report was filed in reference to a sighting in Jefferson County, TX (near the area of the previous report) on October 1984 to the TBRC:

Report #01060011
Occurred October 15, 1984 -(Submitted April 7, 2006)

Witness Observation:

I was squirrel hunting out around Pine Island Bayou in the early afternoon. I was walking down a make shift trail running beside the bayou. The area was pretty open and you could see everything clearly. No high brush or dense wooded areas either. I was sitting on an old tree that had fallen and was snacking on something and petting my dog that was with me, half lab/half pit bull. We were sitting there when all of a sudden we heard this splashing noise coming from the bayou which was probably 50 feet to the side of me. The splashing was probably 200 feet away from me down the trail. My dog snapped to attention and I had my shotgun pulled and ready for whatever we saw. Up the bank came this large creature walking on 2 legs. It looked right at me and took a step toward me when my dog started growling and barking at it. It was probably 6'5" - 7'0", covered in dark brown, somewhat wet hair from head to toe. It looked right at me and it looked like the face of a man who had not shaved in many years but it was very intimidating. Well, my dog started to run toward it and it picked up an old log and threw it at him, then turned around and ran back across the bayou and back into the woods on the other side. It had made a kind of growling/yelling noise when it threw the log at him. I did shoot at it when it threw the log but I only had a single shot .410 and I do not know if any of the buckshot hit him. It scared me so bad that instead of running back up the trail I had came down, I just ran straight into the woods behind me until I came to the first house in the back part of the sub-division and never looked back until I hit the road that was there and waited for my dog to catch up to me. From that day forth I have never went back into those woods or any woods around me. I have not told anyone until recently we saw the report on the Travel Channel and I told my wife what I saw. I did not stay around or go back and look for anything. I will say this, I still have dreams/nightmares of that moment.

Physical Evidence: I did not go back and look nor did I tell anyone about it.

Sounds: It growled/yelled

Additional Observations: Large creature walking on 2 legs. It was probably 6' 5" - 7' 0", covered in dark brown, somewhat wet hair from head to toe. It looked right at me and it looked like the face of a man who had not shaved in many years but it was very intimidating. No. Too far away to notice.

This was at Pine Island Bayou, back of Bevil Oaks Subdivision, (now part of a Big Thicket National Preserve corridor)

Time and Conditions: 2:00pm - Clear and Cool. Swampy & wooded.

Investigator's Comments:

Bob Hilliard

I spoke with the witness on 25 May 2006. He gave me no reasons to dismiss his report, was very cordial and seemed very sincere about what he allegedly saw.

As stated in his report, the witness told me that he was hunting for squirrels with his dog behind the Bevil Oaks subdivision and was sitting about 50 feet from Pine Island Bayou. He reportedly heard a loud splashing sound and then sounds like something large coming through the water to his side of the bayou. Thinking maybe it was a deer, the witness stated that he crouched down so that it would not see him. The witness went on to tell me that to his surprise, "a large creature with dark brown, almost black hair, walking on two legs, came up the bank."

The witness said that it looked straight at him and its face looked very human. The witness reported that when his dog started barking, the strange subject made sort of a growling yelp, threw a small log their way, then turned and went back across the bayou and into the woods. He said the bayou is at least five feet deep but the subject had no problem at all crossing it.

The witness stated that the wind was behind him and the subject was about 50 to 75 yards away so there was no smell. He also stated that he had seen some tracks earlier but thought the reason they were so big was because the person making them was sliding in the slick mud.

After thinking about it later on, the witness said:
1. No one would be walking around out there barefoot and;
2. He didn't remember seeing any slide marks.

When asked if he had had any other experiences in the area or heard of any more sightings, the witness replied that two of his friends had supposedly heard some strange whooping and howling in the same area and that there was another alleged sighting a couple of years later further on down the bayou. The witness had not heard of anything recently.

It is my assessment that the witness seemed credible, was very forthcoming and answered all my questions as best he could. The witness told me that he just recently told his wife about his sighting because he had seen the TBRC on the Travel Channel; according to his own testimony, he has never told anyone else.

The area in which the sighting occurred is now quite developed, although much less so at the time of the alleged event. About three miles from this area to the west, the Big Thicket National Preserve Bayou corridor continues into Little Pine Island Bayou, which eventually runs through the Lance Rosier Unit, and on northward toward the Turkey Creek and Big Sandy Creek units; none of the units mentioned here are without reported "wild man" sightings, both aged and recent.

Sources:
Phantoms and Monsters archives
bigfootsightings.org
BFRO.net
www.texasbigfoot.org
southwestpaddler.com

Cryptid Sightings: Jefferson / Orange Counties - Texas Gulf Coast

Photos: 'Ghost' Appears In Two Photos From Different Tours

Posted: 23 Jul 2010 10:06 AM PDT

The shadowy woman has now shown up in the photographs of two tourists following visits to Mary King's Close

STV - Staff at one of Edinburgh's spookiest tourist attractions have been left mystified after a ghostly figure showed up in the photographs of two separate tourists.

Bosses at Mary King's Close say the blond haired woman who appeared in images from two different tours was definitely not a customer.

Both photos appear to show one person more than expected and staff believe that on close inspection, the ghostly figure appears to be the same woman.

Staff were first alerted to their unexpected visitor last October, when a member of the public queried their souvenir photograph. A few weeks later, the same thing happened with a different tourist, and staff say they have been trying to figure out what is going on ever since.

They have now introduced later night tours for the month of August in a bid to get to the bottom of the mystery. And they have asked anyone who sees a strange apparition in their pictures to allow them to be examined.

Lisa Robshaw, spokesperson for The Real Mary King's Close, said: "We hope that by extending the hours of opening we can get to the bottom of this mystery.

"We've long been associated with supernatural and unexplained stories. We've had sightings of dark shadowy figures who lurk in the myriad of passageways, rooms and corners of the Closes, and reports of lots of strange noises – these images seem to give us even more evidence.

"By running tours late in to the night with the last one finishing at midnight, we hope that this might make the ghostly image reappear. "

Ms Robshaw insisted the images had not been doctored by staff, adding: "We have spent a long time studying these photographs and cannot come to a satisfactory conclusion. In both these images there appears to be a blurry ghostly image of a blond haired lady which we cannot explain, and we hope that by making the images public that someone might be able to help.

"If there are people in the images who can explain who the lady is we would love to hear from them. We've tested the static camera that we use and it appears to be working normally so we really do not have an explanation. We just want to try and understand what has happened."

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MARY KING'S CLOSE - EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND

Mary King's Close is said to be one of Scotland's most haunted areas. Situated just off Edinburgh's Royal Mile, Mary King's Close is a real step back in time. The close, or street, has a dark history, and since it reopened, it has become a major tourist attraction. It is a draw not only for ghost hunters, but also for anyone wishing to view a real 17th century street.

Edinburgh itself is a city full of small, winding streets and dark alleyways. It is a historic city, and many of the original buildings date back centuries. Mary King's Close is one of the oldest streets now available for the public to view. It is a dark, winding street full of original shops and houses from the 17th century.

Like many Edinburgh streets in the 17th century, conditions were less than sanitary in Mary King's Close. Human waste was simply thrown out of windows onto the street. The inhabitants of the houses were poor, and illness was rife.

During the time when the plague raged in Britain, Scotland lost over a quarter of its population to the disease. Mary King's Close was rife with plague. City leaders decided to take the inhumane action of sealing off Mary King's Close in order to contain the plague that ravaged the inhabitants. Many experts claim that religion also played a role in this decision, as the street was inhabited mainly by Catholics.

Mary King's Close is mainly situated underground, and both ends were sealed with bricks in 1644, leaving the inhabitants to die inside. It was estimated that almost 600 people were found dead when the street was reopened within a year. Butchers sliced up the bodies, and they were taken through the streets of Edinburgh and buried in huge, mass graves.

Life once again resumed in Mary King's Close, mainly due to the cheap rents offered to new tenants. In the 19th century, the close was emptied and again permanently sealed up. It has been reported that the close was rediscovered by workmen digging above the street.

Since Mary King's Close has reopened, thousands of visitors have flocked to the street. Many have been attracted by stories of ghosts, and it has become a regular site for paranormal investigators. The dark, claustrophobic atmosphere of the streets, houses, and shops has also led many visitors to leave the close minutes after entering.

The most famous spectral inhabitant is said to be the ghost of 10-year-old Annie, who died of the plague. Many people have reported feeling her presence, including psychics who have noted temperature changes when entering her room. Visitors to the close now leave dolls and sweets in the room Annie is supposed to haunt. Ghosts aside, Mary King's Close is an excellent historical tour of a forgotten age.

NOTE: If they have the head counts right then a phantom may be taking in the tour. I've had several anecdotes and photos of apparitions popping up during tours of Scottish sites. BTW, Mary King's Close is definitely a place you want to see if you find yourself in Edinburgh...several friends and associates have had some strange encounters there...Lon

Photos: 'Ghost' Appears In Two Photos From Different Tours

Fortean / Oddball News - 7/23/2010

Posted: 23 Jul 2010 09:21 AM PDT

Saudi Man Chained For Six Years...Father Believes He Is Possessed By Evil Female Genie

A Saudi man has been chained in a basement apartment for more than six years because his father believes he is possessed by an evil female genie.

'When he has fits he has convulsions and his entire body twists and his eyes become completely white,' said the father of the 29-year-old man who has been identified only as Turki.

'Then the voice of a woman can be heard coming from him.'

When Turki first began behaving bizarrely, his father took him to local Muslim clerics to recite the Koran over him.

'But most of them became scared when they heard the female voice telling them that she was a royal jinn (genie) and that no-one can exorcise her unless Turki dies,' his father said.

One cleric advised him to shackle his son's arms and legs in chains and read the Koran to him.

But genies, or jinn, in Islamic theology can be much more sinister. Some are good, others bad.

They are believed to be normally invisible but have the ability to assume human or animal form and are often said to be motivated by jealousy or revenge.

'We did this. My son became quiet but is totally unaware of what is happening around him. He does not talk and is now unable to harm anyone,' Turki's father told Arab News, an English language Saudi daily.

A Saudi family last year took a 'genie' to court, accusing it of theft and harassment.

The jinn was said to have terrified the children by throwing stones, stealing mobile phones and speaking in male and female voices.

Turki lives in a tiny, two-room basement apartment with his impoverished mother and her three other children in the holy city of Mecca. They survive on £150 a month from social security.

His parents divorced before he was 'possessed'.

Turki's father claimed he himself was afflicted by a jinn at the age of nine and suffered for more than four decades until it was exorcised by a cleric.

'I used to see a woman who would at times appear very beautiful and at times extremely ugly,' he said.

On some occasions she was 'surrounded by fire' and on others appeared 'with animal limbs'.

A Saudi human rights activist and professor in Sharia (Islamic law) who visited Turki found him to be in a 'semi-coma'.

Muhammad Al-Suhali said Turki 'did not know what was going on around him. He could not eat, drink or use the toilet without the help of others'.

The professor added that when started to read some Koranic verses, Turki became furious and shook until he nearly fell out of his bed.

'When I stopped reciting, he became quiet again but was distant and unaware of what was happening,' Suhali told Arab News.

He praised Turki's young wife for staying with him despite his frightening condition.

Suhali called on Saudi Ministry of Social Affairs to provide the family with better accommodation and to include Turki in its social security programme.

NOTE: Another fine example of Saudi barbarism...I just wonder how much stuff we never hear about...Lon

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Big Cat Reported in Central Ohio

newarkadvocate - The latest unusual animal sighting in Granville was even more inconclusive than the last

The resident of the east side of the village who saw it said she thinks it was in the cat family. A state wildlife expert said it is more likely to be in the dog family.

Rose Wingert, of Victoria Drive, reported seeing the animal in front of her home the morning of July 13. The animal ran away quickly, but Wingert said she was able to get a good look at it.

She said her first impression had been that it might be a coyote. But after checking photos of coyotes on the Internet, she decided the animal she saw wasn't one.

"At first, I didn't think too much of it, but then I started wondering, 'What was it?'" she said. "It was a lean and long animal," she added in an e-mail. "It was not a mountain lion, but a rare type of cat."

Contacted about identifying the animal, Andrew J. Montoney, state director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services in Reynoldsburg, said based on the description from Wingert, the animal is more likely to be in the dog family than the cat family.

Montoney said there are no native "cat" species matching this description in Ohio. However, he said the description -- a body about 3 feet long, a long tail and short fur of mottled (browns, blacks and grays) color -- could match any of three common "dog-like" species native to Ohio: the coyote, red fox and gray fox.

It also could have been a non-native, exotic animal, Montoney said.

"There are periodic reports of people seeing non-native (exotic) animals all throughout Ohio," he wrote in an e-mail. "When verified, these exotic animals usually turn out to be someone's pet that escaped or was intentionally turned loose due to difficulty of raising a wild animal. But these verified incidents are rare and uncommon."

Granville police received a report on the sighting the evening of July 13 but did not send out an officer. Granville Police Chief Jim Mason, who wasn't on duty at the time, said an officer mostly likely would have been sent if the report were timely.

In April 2008, another east-side resident, Char Donelan, reported seeing an unusual animal in her backyard on Longford Drive. The animal she described resembled the one Wingert reported. After viewing a video a neighbor took of the animal, Donelan said she thought it to be a coyote.

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The Oklahoma 'Panty' Bandit

news9 - A middle-aged woman wearing what appeared to be underwear over her face is wanted in connection to an overnight drive-thru burglary.

On Tuesday morning around 3 a.m., an employee of the 24 hour McDonald's, at 7025 S.E. 15th Street, noticed that money was missing from the cash register in the drive-through.

When the manager reviewed the surveillance video, it showed a white female dressed in a black shirt, black pants, most likely a blonde wig, gloves and underwear over her face held in place with yellow paperclips, walking toward the drive-thru window. A car then pulls around the business and the female walks off.

A short time later, the same suspect walked up to the drive through window, slid it open, reached into the business with a cash drawer key and opened up the register. The woman stole money from the cash drawer and walk off. The employee who was working the drive-through was somewhere else in the business at the time of the theft.

"I've seen a wide variety of crime over the last 30 years but this particular case is one of the strangest based on her method of operation and weird disguise," said Midwest City Police Chief Brandon Clabes in a press release.

NOTE: You know times are tough when Grandma covers her face with a pair of old panties and grabs a couple of bucks out of a McDonald's drive-thru at 3:00am...Lon

Click for video

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Cornucopia, the Food Printer...Now YOU Can Cook Like Jane Jetson

physorg - The food printer is at the concept design stage, and would work by storing and refrigerating ingredients and then mixing them, cooking layers of the mixture and printing them onto a serving tray. The concept design was introduced by two graduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Fluid Interfaces Group Media Lab: designer/engineer in algorithmic image process development Amit Zoran, and designer and research assistant Marcelo Coelho.

The food printing process begins with selecting the required food canisters in which ingredients are stored and kept refrigerated. Ingredients are then fed into a mixing chamber and the mixture is extruded and deposited in layers of various and complex combinations of ingredients. During deposition of the layers onto the serving tray the ingredients are either cooked or cooled in the chamber or by heating/cooling tubes attached to the printing head.

The researchers say the printing process brings cooking technologies into the digital age and allows entirely novel textures and flavors to be created that would otherwise be unimaginable and which are unobtainable through traditional cooking techniques. They say users would be able to control the nutritional value, quality and flavors in each meal through a touch-screen interface and Internet connectivity, which would allow them to manipulate parameters such as carbohydrate or fat content and calories. The design also allows for the food printer to be able to automatically order new ingredients and suggest an alternative ingredient if one runs out.

3D printers already exist (see, for example, PhysOrg's article on 3D printers for moon bases and the affordable desk top 3D printer). The printers are becoming more common and are already being used in applications such as creating three-dimensional prototypes or models.

The researchers hope their concept will "provide a glimpse at the new aesthetic and cultural possibilities, which can be brought forth by a new, digital gastronomy."

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'Well, Robin...I suppose we'll have to use the Bat Cave instead"

Fortean / Oddball News - 7/23/2010

Mande Burung Expedition Planned

Posted: 23 Jul 2010 08:14 AM PDT

John Carlson is reporting on his blog The Paranomalist a correspondence he received from cryptozoologist Adam Davis in reference to a future expedition in which he'll be searching for the Mande Burung:

I was in touch with cryptozoologist Adam Davies today and he informed me that he'll be leading an expedition to India in search of legendary ape men known locally as the Mande Burung (forest man). The date for expedition has been confirmed for the last week of October, 2010.

The Mande Burung is described as a bipedal apelike creature similar to North America's Bigfoot or Sasquatch, Australia's Yowie, and the Yeti of the Himalayas. The cryptid is most commonly seen in the West Garo Hills district of the state of Meghalaya in India.

This remote region of India borders Bangladesh, and sightings of these strange, upright-walking hominoids have been reported by many of the local villagers.

I'm sure the hilly jungle terrain that these creatures are said to inhabit will prove to be challenging, but Adam Davies and his team of cryptid researchers are experienced at overcoming such difficult territory, having endured the Congolese jungles and swamps, the dizzying heights of the Himalayas, and the searing heat of the Gobi Desert — among other demanding and dangerous locales.

For further information regarding the adventures of cryptid researcher Adam Davies, I highly recommend that you read his book Extreme Expeditions, which I've reviewed in the Book Review section of this website. Extreme Expeditions is published by Anomalist Books.

No word just yet from Adam as to whether the Mande Burung expedition to India will be filmed and shown on History Channel's MonsterQuest program, but I'll update this post and let everyone know just as soon as I have a confirmation either way.

NOTE: The following are links to previous posts on the Mande Burung:
New Indian 'Bigfoot' Reports
'Bigfoot' Sightings Spark Terror
Search For Illusive Mande Burung Continues
Oxford Scientists to Test Indian 'Yeti' Hairs
Yeti: New Evidence Found
'MonsterQuest' Searches For Mande Burung in Garo Hills

Mande Burung Expedition Planned

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