PUTTING THE QUEENSLAND TIGER AND THE CONGOLESE WATER ELEPHANT IN THE PICTURE!

 

My illustration of the Queensland tiger aka the yarri, which I prepared as a teenager back in the mid-/late1970s (© Dr Karl Shuker

Serendipity has played a big part in my life, usually involving my looking for one thing and, while doing so, finding something entirely different but equally worthwhile. And so it proved again today.

As a teenager during the mid-/late 1970s, I'd written a letter to Prof. Christopher Evans, a very notable Welsh scientist and psychologist who at that time was also acting as scientific advisor for ITV's hit British teenage-oriented sci fi TV show The Tomorrow People. My letter concerned a biological subject touched upon not only within one of this show's series but also, and this time in much more detail, within an episode of the original, classic Star Trek TV show. I didn't really expect to receive a reply, as I assumed that he must receive countless letters from fans of the show, so I was both surprised and delighted when I did indeed receive one, in the form of a charming, insightful letter from the man himself, which I greatly treasured – and especially so when Prof. Evans tragically died not long afterwards, of cancer, in 1979, aged only 48.

It occurred to me recently that I sought to scan this precious letter from Prof. Evans and post it here on ShukerNature with the background details leading up to it, thereby preserving it publicly for posterity. So today I sought out the folder in which I always believed it to have been placed by me long ago for safekeeping – only to realize to my horror when searching for it that I no longer had any idea where said folder was! After several hours, however, I finally uncovered it – only to discover once again to my horror that it did not contain said letter! So now I have to start searching all over again for it.

However, in that very same folder I did find two other items that caught my attention, both of which I'd hitherto entirely forgotten – a pair of colour illustrations of two mystery mammals that I'd prepared at much the same time that I'd written my letter to Prof. Evans, meaning that they are almost 50 years old and have never been seen outside that folder – until now. For although I freely confess that my artistic attempts fall far short of those wonderful artworks created by my various bona fide artist friends on social media and elsewhere, as they nonetheless constitute one of my earliest forays into creating cryptozoological output I felt that followers of my Shukernature blog might like to see them, and also it means that they are now at least for the present preserved online. So here they are.

 

My copy of the hardback First Edition of On the Track of Unknown Animals, by Dr Bernard Heuvelmans, featuring several line illustrations by Monique Watteau on its dustjacket, including her rendition of the Queensland tiger (© Dr Bernard Heuvelmans/Monique Watteau/Rupert Hart-Davis – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

The first one, opening this particular blog post, is my colour illustration of Australia's elusive Queensland tiger or yarri (documented by me here on ShukerNature), which was inspired by a b/w line drawing prepared by French artist Monique Watteau that appeared in veteran cryptozoologist Dr Bernard Heuvelmans's seminal tome On the Track of Unknown Animals (1958). In addition, when I prepared my above illustration, I had never encountered a full-colour image of the Queensland tiger anywhere, so mine may actually have been the very first one prepared (but don't quote me on this, just in case!).

The second one, posted below, is of Africa's enigmatic Congolese water elephant (documented by me here on ShukerNature), which I recall being inspired by another original line drawing in a publication, but I haven't been able to trace which one. I thought that it was another Watteau line illustration from Heuvelmans's afore-mentioned book, but I cannot find any such image in it.

Anyway, I hope that you enjoy viewing them here. Meanwhile, my search for the lost letter from Prof. Evans continues…

 

My illustration of the Congolese water elephant, which I prepared as a teenager back in the 1970s (© Dr Karl Shuker

 

AN AMERICAN MYSTERY BLACK PANTHER DEPICTED IN A FAMOUS MODERN-DAY PAINTING

'Story Told By My Mother', painted in 1955 by Carroll Cloar (© Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Tennessee, USA – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis only)

In various previous ShukerNature articles, I've documented several fascinating examples of apparent cryptids depicted by famous artists. Now, I am adding yet another such example to this select company.

I am very grateful to American correspondent David McAvoy for bringing to my attention a remarkable painting on display at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art in Tennessee, USA. Entitled 'Story Told By My Mother', and opening this present ShukerNature article, it was produced in 1955 by highly-acclaimed Arkansas-born artist Carroll Cloar (1913-1993), and depicts a snow scene in which a woman is stepping briskly away from a very large black panther-like cat standing at the edge of some trees.

David informed me that it was inspired by tales that Cloar had heard from his mother concerning so-called black panthers that had once roamed Arkansas. Moreover, David himself hails from Arkansas, and he mentioned that he has heard such stories for as long as he can remember. Indeed, mysterious, unidentified big cats of black panther-like appearance (i.e. resembling melanistic leopards, which are uniformly black in background coat colouration) have been reported all over North America for centuries.

A black panther (melanistic leopard) (© Dr Karl Shuker)

Leopards of course are not native to the New World, so if such beasts are indeed roaming the wilds here, they can only be escapee or released individuals from captivity. However, their eyewitnesses often claim that these cats are not black leopards anyway (nor black jaguars either, although normal spotted jaguars have been confirmed to exist at least in certain southern states such as Arizona and California on a fairly regular basis in earlier times), but are instead black pumas. (Other names for pumas, incidentally, include cougars, mountain lions, catamounts, painters, and - very confusingly - panthers.) Yet no such cat form has ever been scientifically confirmed from North America, only two such specimens have been procured in tropical Latin America, and no captive individuals are currently known to exist anywhere (I have previously documented one possible example exhibited at London Zoo during the 1800s). Moreover, all three of these latter specimens were not uniformly black anyway, but were only black dorsally; ventrally, they were much paler.

In short, even if they do occur, black pumas are exceptionally rare as far as physical evidence for their reality is concerned, and those few confirmed specimens do not match the sightings of large all-black felids in North America. Bearing in mind that countless normal-coloured pumas (i.e. either tawny or grey) have been shot there, however, and also bearing in mind that in view of the numerous reports of black panther-like cats on file from this continent, whatever this cat form may be it does not appear to be especially rare, why are no North America specimens ever forthcoming if it is indeed a melanistic version (morph) of the puma? This apparent paradox remains a major riddle for New World cryptozoology to solve, but at least we do now have an additional and most interesting, unexpected piece of evidence supporting the existence of black panther-like cats in North America, regardless of their formal taxonomic identity.

For a comprehensive examination of the black puma controversy, please click here, and see also my books Mystery Cats of the World and Cats of Magic, Mythology, and Mystery.

CREEPY CREATIONS AND CRYPTOZOOLOGY – MONSTROUSLY-AWESOME ARTWORK FROM SHIVER AND SHAKE

The Turkish Turn-Eyed Twitter – one of my favourite Creepy Creations (© Ken Reid/IPC)

Unless, like me, you were a child or early teenager in Britain during the 1970s, the title of this present ShukerNature blog post will very probably leave you totally bemused – so let me explain what it's all about. One of the many British weekly comics that I used to read during that period was published by IPC and entitled Shiver and Shake – actually two comics in one, with Shake enclosed in the centre of Shiver. Starting with issue #1 (published 10 March 1973), every week the back cover of Shiver showcased a wonderful series of monster artwork known as Creepy Creations, which were mostly drawn by cartoonist Ken Reid.

The One-Eyed Wonk of Wigan – the very first Creepy Creation (© Ken Reid/IPC)

The first few were created specifically by Ken, but then the series became the focus of a long-running competition, whereby readers would be invited to send in sketches of their own monster creations, and the best entry each week as selected by the comic's editor would be redrawn professionally by Ken and then appear on the back cover; the winner would also receive a modest monetary prize - £1 - plus (if memory serves me correctly) Ken's original artwork of their monster.

The Boggle-Eyed Butty-Biter of Sandwich – not just a Creepy Creation but also a jam-devouring relation, perhaps, of the honey-loving Winnie the Pooh? (© Ken Reid/IPC)

In total, 79 winning Creepy Creations entries appeared in the comic itself (as well as a number of runners-up, plus additional examples in the various Shiver and Shake Holiday Specials and Shiver and Shake Annuals), and they were all given titles that were hilariously alliterative and outrageously contrived, thus adding immensely to the fun.

The Trumpington Trumpeter – is this where Rothschild's mystery tusk came from?  :-)  (© Kevin Reid/IPC)

I used to love this series – especially the more cryptozoological examples, naturally - and I still have a few that I cut out way back then and have kept ever since, some of which I've scanned and included in this post. All of which goes to show that it was not only the serious works of Heuevelmans et al. that inspired, encouraged, and nurtured my fascination with monsters and mystery beasts!

Dripula, the Monster from the Swamp – not a cryptozoologically-themed Creepy Creation but still a favourite of mine because I always felt that it would have made a very successful movie monster (© Ken Reid/IPC)

If you'd like to learn a lot more about Creepy Creations, click here for a very informative page concerning them, including illustrations of several of the best examples plus a complete itemised listing; and click here for an extremely comprehensive series of Creepy Creations illustrations, showcasing many if not all of them.

The Long-Haired Luvvaduck From Liverpool – Little Jimmy Osmond was in the pop charts at the time! (© Ken Reid/IPC)

Now, if only some enterprising publisher could issue a compilation edition…

The Hooter-Hiker of Harrogate – weirdly wonderful, or wonderfully weird? (© Ken Reid/IPC)

But to think that Creepy Creations began over 40 years ago – where does the time go?! And how sad that the once-thriving, burgeoning array of British comics - in their heyday when I was young - have long since vanished. Today, just a single example, The Beano, survives, with even its longstanding sidekick The Dandy lately relegated to an online-only presence. Ah well, at least I still have my good memories of them (together with a few yellowing copies and some hardback annuals). Good memories indeed, of happy bygone days.

The Fanatical Fungus-Grower of Frogpool – is there really a place called Frogpool?? (© Ken Reid/IPC)

WELCOME TO MY ECLECTARIUM!

It's taken a while, but I've finally got around to establishing a blog devoted to my varied interests outside cryptozoology, animal mythology, and poetry.

Entitled 'The Eclectarium of Doctor Shuker', it will encompass everything from fantasy art and novels, James Dean, masks, Forteana, motorbikes, clowns, science fiction, ancient civilisations, science anomalies, stamp collecting, Sherlock Holmes, animation, the supernatural, rock 'n' roll music, quiz trivia, and much more.

If it's unusual, intriguing, and obscure, there's a good chance it will appear here, sooner or later! So please check it out, at:

http://eclectariumshuker.blogspot.com/