Sad news for cryptozoologist's family

Many readers will recall that the wife of CFZ member and Danish cryptozoologist Lars Thomas went missing earlier this year. Tragically, there has now been a resolution in this case with the discovery of Jeanett Rask's body.

Our hearts go out to Lars and his family during what has been an incredibly difficult time for them all with the loss of their beautiful Jeanett.

Please remember them in your thoughts.

The full story is over at the Centre for Fortean Zoology main blog.

Touching tribute to cryptozoologist's missing wife

The wife of our good friend, cryptozoologist Lars Thomas, is still missing.

Lars thanked everyone this week for rallying behind his search for his missing wife Jeanett Rask Thomas.

He also penned this heartfelt tribute to his wife.

Please take a moment to read it.

New from CFZ Press: water monsters galore!

Prepare to enter Weird Waters - the home of Scandinavian and Baltic water monsters, to be precise.

Cryptozoologist Lars Thomas is behind this latest beautifully presented CFZ tome, the smart-looking cover of which gives you a clue to what lies inside.
Aquatic monsters have a long and venerable history in the waters of northern Europe, dating at least all the way back to what must surely be the grandfather of all lake-, sea- and other monsters, the mighty Midgårdsorm or Jormungandr from the old Norse mythology - a creature long enough to encircle the globe and bite its own tail. 

Though some have since claimed sightings of monsters several hundred metres long, some even confusing the creatures with small islands, nothing has ever come even remotely close to the gargantuan size of the Midgårdsorm. And naturally, the only one who ever dared to challenge this monster was the old Norse god Thor - the god of thunder.

In many ways, the Midgårdsorm is the archetypical mythological monster, but that doesn't mean all monsters are figments of the imagination. The borderline between fantasy and reality is one that is fine and fluid, with aspects of one realm carried over into the other. Real creatures can so easily clothe themselves in mythological splendour, and thus become bigger, scarier, and more fabulous.

In the centuries following the time of the Midgårdsorm, many kinds of strange creatures have been seen in the waters of northern Europe. The monsters are still very much alive, in tradition as well as in reality.

Meet the Cryptozoologist: Lars Thomas

The third guest in our new Meet the Cryptozoologist series is CFZer and Danish zoologist Lars Thomas.

Welcome Lars!

How did you first get involved in researching strange and mysterious creatures?
Things really started to come my way in 1988 when a magazine asked me to do a series of travel pieces on Great Britain, and I included a few strange animals in the collection.

What were some of the early influences in your life?
Buying a book about the Loch Ness monster at a book sale at the age of 11. And being an ardent fan of Sherlock Holmes and solving mysteries.

Have you personally seen one of these creatures?
I haven't seen any of the big ones, but I have probably seen a live huia-bird, som 55 years after their supposed extinction, and possibly a giant gecko as well.

What creatures particularly interest you?
Out-of-place animals and supposedly extinct ones.

What cryptids are most likely to exist in your opinion?
Sea-monsters of various kinds, but also some of the manlike things - Orang-pendek, Yeti and so forth. And definitely some of the supposedly extinct ones - and then of course alien big cats. Those I know for a fact exists.

What’s your favourite?
I have a weakness for Nordic stories about strange creatures in general.

What’s your favourite Australian cryptid?
The thylacine most definitely.

Have you developed any theories around where the more unusual animals - i.e. yowies/bigfoot - have come from?
Some of them might be new species of large primates, but some of them are probably also figments of imagination and moderne version of stories about the boogy-man.

Have you written any books/articles?
I have written 55 books - but apart from one in Icelandic, and an upcoming one for CFZ called Weird Waters, they are all in Danish. I have written a lot of articles - probably several hundreds, but again, mostly in Danish.

Do you have a website?
Nope, but I have a blog, called The Cryptodane, but I do not take as much care of it as I should. http://cryptodane.blogspot.com/

How many mystery animal reports would you receive a year?
About 20-30 in Denmark, and various bits and bobs from other parts of the world.

What’s the closest you’ve personally come to finding something?
Proving that a leopard had been on the loose in Huddisford Wood in Devon in 2010.

What’s the farthest you’ve traveled to go ‘in search of’ mystery animals?
From Denmark to Tasmania and New Zealand.

What’s next for you - any trips planned? Books or articles to write? Talks to give?
Three books to write - one on terrestrial critters in Northern Europe, one big one (the definitive volume on cryptozoology with the lovely Lang lady :-) ), one on New Zealand travels of strange animals, and one on folklore (especially for school-children) - that's four actually. And a few articles here and there, and 16 talks booked for this autumn.

Could you share some of your favourite cryptozoology book titles with us?
The classics - anything by Bernard Heuvelmans as well as Alien Animals by Janet and Colin Bord. They were the ones that really got me started.

What advice would you give anyone getting into the field of cryptozoology?
Be patient, keep an open mind - although not open enough to let your brain fall out, read as much as you can about cryptozoology, zoology and the study of folklore. And make sure you have a well-developed sense of humour. You are going to need it!

Field research: How to collect samples

Zoologist Lars Thomas gives crypto-hunters a lesson in collecting samples for valid scientific analysis over at CFZ HQ. (Lars is pictured above at right showing cryptozoology researchers some bagged samples at the 2010 Weird Weekend)

"First of all, keep an EXPEDITION LOG. In this (any cheap notebook will do, but make sure it is reasonably durable), one scribbles as much information about the samples as possible. There in no upper limit, but for each and every sample there should be at least the following information:

"A NUMBER – for instance all samples collected on day one are numbered 101, 102, 103 and so forth. On day two, the numbers are 201, 202, 203 and so on."

Read more at CFZ UK.

CFZ WW leopard hair update

Cast your minds back to the Weird Weekend in August, this year attended by Aussies Rebecca and Mike who were spruiking their book, Australian Big Cats: An Unnatural History of Panthers.

On the August 17, CFZ Director Jon Downes announced that Danish Zoologist Lars Thomas had examined hair samples found in Huddisford Woods near Woolsery, and pronounced them to be leopard.

The hairs (which were found by Lars, naturalist and big cat researcher Jon McGowan and a team known as the Four-Teans) were offered to any research group or academic institution who wanted to try and verify Lars's findings.

The first person to contact Jon was Dr Ross Barnett from Durham University who has done DNA analysis on them, and has confirmed that they are Pantherine, probably leopard.

Dr Barnett is now carrying out further tests to establish the species and subspecies for certain and a full announcement by Jon will be made then.

Stay tuned!

In the meantime you can read about Lars's analysis at the Fortean Times website.