Loern wrote: “Large wings, flight straight up into the air, and other seemingly “supernatural” elements were not part of the initial waves of accounts.”

That’s incorrect, Loren. Among other things, the November, 1966 sighting by Connie Carpenter was among the very first recorded and perhaps the most cited as to Mothman’s “helicopter” flight ability.

And don’t hold your breath over the Flatwoods Monster. Suspect you’ll be seeing Joe Nickells again. Couple of years ago he wrote a very plausible explanation for the siting. Expect more owls.

The beasts that are conveniently deemed “werewolves” I would actually prefer to refer to as “Wolf Beings.” Nobody is talking about the “traditional” Werewolf here, which is basically a human afflicted with the disease of Lycanthropy, which causes them them to turn into wolves every full moon or so. We all know the drill. THESE creatures appear to be like that ALL the time. No silver bullets needed. No supernatural element here.

But unfortunately, the catch-all term has become “werewolf,” even though they are not THE werewolves we all know about.

The Flatwoods Monster really belongs more to UFO lore than to true Cryptozoology, IMO. It actually looked more like a sentient alien robot than anything else. But Loren has covered it and Crypto folks DO include it in Crypto stuff, so I’m not THAT worried about classification. I do agree with Loren that there are legitimate questions about the Cryptozoological worthiness of this episode and of the ambiguity of Mothman being in the Crypto pantheon overall.

I have my opinions on what Mothman is or is not (most folks who I’ve interacted with for a while may guess they are) but I’ll keep them to myself and wait until the episode airs. Like Loren says, I will withhold judgement.

The media, via a newspaper copy editor naming the source of the sightings “Mothman,” a bridge collapsing, and John A. Keel’s final book version being more demonological than zoological, have imprinted these cryptids with an unfortunate mantle of unbelievably. But if you go back to the original reports, they do not exist outside the realm of most avian cryptid reports.

I have my reservations about this program being very cryptozoological, because of the people they are showing on it. But I’ll hold comments until I see it.

Although I’ll be watching tonight to see what MQ brings to the table re the Mothman phenomena, it is, IMHO, one of the more far-fetched criptid candidates – at least as far as a living, breathing, terrestrial entity is concerned.

The biggest problem I have with Mothman is nicely illustrated in MQ’s animation – although I do give ‘em points for trying to depict a “real” creature rather than the classic headless, red-eyed, furry blob!

No matter which version you prefer, however, the crux of the matter is that creature possesses wings that are woefully undersized; it also lacks the necessary musculature to even suggest that powered flight – a crucial attribute – would be possible. Those glaring deficiencies, coupled with the whole “harbinger of doom” thing, suggest to me that Mothman should be relegated to the company of ghosts, sprites and sundry extra-dimensional beings.

Re: PIRANHAS

Like the “Giant Killer Bees” and “Giant Snakes,” sounds like another we-have-to-fill-an-hour-of-time non story.

Pirañas are actually quite skittish, but they do travel in schools and possess VERY sharp teeth. Fish gotta eat and, if an injured prey item is available, they will consume it (just like any other fish – toss a couple worms to the bluegill in your local fishin’ hole and watch the water boil!)

While people have certainly been bitten by pirañas, the only documented cases of consumption were of corpses, i.e. drowning victims. Lets face it, in the Amazon basin there are a lot more pirañas being eaten by people than vice versa!

Re: FLATWOODS MONSTER

Not really familiar with the story, but a creature “human-like in appearance… with reptilian skin… hover(ing) over its victims in strange craft” just sounds goofy to me!

Re: SIERRA SASQUATCH

Sounds interesting. Always love the Bigfoot stuff!

Re: WEREWOLF II

Do I think people turn into wolves and run around in the woods? No.

Might there be some type of cryptid, i.e., an unknown or out-of-place canid, big cat, etc. at large? Perhaps.

I’m looking forward to seeing what the “recently uncovered film footage” shows.

And the upcoming line-up sounds halfway decent…I’ll probably hate myself for saying this, but so far, I’ve been more impressed with MonsterQuest this season. I’m curious about the werewolf II episode–if it’s going back to Bray Road in Wisconsin, or if there’s new stuff? I’ll tune into that one too…and of course the BF stuff:)