Monster Quest ~ The Real Hobbit + DSD ~ Loch Ness
Posted by: Loren Coleman on January 16th, 2008
Monster Quest: The Real Hobbit
Travel to the interior of Sumatra, in Indonesia, in a search for what locals call the Orang Pendak [sic], translated as: Man of the Woods. In 2004 skeletal remains were found on the neighboring island of Flores and named “the Real Hobbit.” Could Orang Pendak [sic], with its human face, be a surviving ancestor to the Flores Man? An expedition is launched deep within the rainforest. The natives claim to see the creature often, and they even find footprints of an unknown upright walking beast. Will camera traps reveal its identity? One-part history, one-part science and one part monster, discover the truth behind these legendary monsters. (MonsterQuest/History Channel promotional blurb)
Wednesday January 16th at 10 PM eastern / 9PM central on the History Channel.
It is followed by the repeat of “Deepsea Detectives” episode on the Loch Ness Monster at 11 PM eastern / 10 PM central on the History Channel. (BTW, I do know the ocean is six miles from the loch, not one.) 🙂
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
I hope they get something on this. Monster Quest has disappointed me thusfar. It’s not HORRIBLE. I have just been nonplussed by the show, leaving me without either criticism or praise. Maybe they’re saving the REALLY good stuff for some season finale or sweeps week. Let us hope.
I LOVE the show. I think it does what it is intended to do, educate and entertain; and to be sure, there is a fine line between the two.
Honestly, I have not seen an episode that I didn’t like. My favorites were Big Cats and Sasquatch Attacks (with Jeff Meldrum).
If you’re expecting them to make a discovery on this show, I think you are expecting way too much.
im definetly watching monsterquest tonight at 10pm on histery channel it should be very informative etc. thanks bill green 🙂
I had generally found the show dull. But I missed last week, where apparently they very nicely showed “rods” to be insects captured with consumer video equipment. I can’t stand “rods.”
That’s enough to get me to try the show tonight.
The one thing I’ve never seen on any cryptid hominid documentary is researchers mimicking ape behavior beyond playing back recordings of howls or thumping logs or trees. It’s obvious that Sasquatch and its relatives can see us even — and especially — when we can’t see them. People who ultimately do see them often report perceiving their presence — smelling them or just ”having a strange feeling” without additional validation before the actual sighting. Even if smell isn’t involved, the feeling of their presence could be triggered by pheromones. When that happens, why not mimic other Great Apes? Instead of trying to obtain a confrontational direct look first, maybe the erstwhile observer would be better served by sitting down, looking downward off to one side, and pawing the air or ground with arm outstretched. Videos of chimps and gorillas on TV show them using pawing and similar hand motions to call another over. This pawing motion will even work with many dogs and cats. Try it at home. So, Loren, are you aware of any researchers employing behavioral and/or postural (body language) communications techniques?
I wouldn’t say that I expect Monster Quest to make any discoveries, but it thusfar has walked along some pretty well-worn paths. I just wanted something new. I agree with you on the Cats one. I did find that one interesting and it actually brought to light one or two tidbits that I found most compelling.
I also completely agree with the sentiment on “rods.” They were quite nicely proven to be a video artefact about a decade ago, something to do with insects beating their wings 2, 3, 4… times per frame.
I’ll be watching as well as listening to Let’s talk Bigfoot on talkshoe.com.
Re;Chunkyg…I think you may “have” something here! It is a bit out there, but very interesting. I do not recall it been done in the fashion you suggest, though I might be wrong…just don’t remember. An action of “ape like” behaviour as you pointed out just may trigger a curious, closer look by a sasquatch. It’s a great idea and should be tried!!
I only get to see them on Y tube after they are done. I think that they are purely entertainment and don’t really expect to see any “major” discovery. What I do expect is to see them try and give both sides of the story. The only draw back to the episode is that of the “Bigfoot Attacks”. They were getting pelted with rocks all night long and in the morning they didn’t even go out to look for tracks or anything… Not a very good expedition I would say.
Good entertainment, bad science.
Happy Wednesday to all!
hey loren everyone wow this is definetly a very informative new segment about the real hobbit orang pend dek on monsterquest im going to watch it again at 2am eastern tonight. thanks bill green 🙂
dont forget to see next weeks episode on American werewolf/dog man/possible shape shifter.
bill i know your the man when it comes to gathering bigfoot info but even you must sleep.
thanks for you always uplifting attitude.
It always cracks me up when they give the ‘rundown’ on all the witnesses at the end of the show.
“This man… says he saw something creeping in the woods”
“And this woman… said it was slimy and 8 feet tall”
“And this Dr. is testing the samples for DNA”
They must want to make sure we didn’t forget anything that happened in the last 45 minutes.
Pendak? Should be Pendek right? Pendek means short.
Although, so far, I have only watched the “hairy hominid” segments of Monster Quest, I have found it to be the most fair and objective of series dealing with cryptozoology that I have seen to date. A refreshing change from the patronizing, we-all-know-this-is-really-nonsense narration of “Is It Real” and others.
I enjoy Monsterquest. Keeping in mind that until a sasquatch is found or proved in some other way any serious searches will need to have profit as the motivating factor. At present the best we can hope for is a program such as Monsterquest that bring a high degree of authenticity to the search. Allegations of fakery or over sensationalism would doom any program like this.
By the way my “Fantasy” for proof of Sasquatch would be a National Geographic crew doing a story on Grizzlies and in the process catch a battle between the well known and the “Phantom” king of the forest.
Regards
I only caught the last few minutes of the show, unfortunately. From what I did see I wasn’t surprised with the outcome. I hope to see the whole episode one of these nights.
For the most part I have enjoyed this series. There have been some new techniques and innovations used, resulting in new information such as the echo sounding theory brought about in Lake Champlain and the video of the giant squid in the sea of Mexico. There does seem to be an attempt to squeeze too much into an hour, re: the lack of investigation after the bigfoot attack. But overall I enjoy this show. I do wonder why in the ” Big Cats ” episode there was absolutely NO mention of the cryptid cats of England. I was starting to think that this show, although purporting to be interested in sightings around the world, was only focussing on the U.S. . Even the show about Russia’s apemen did not contain any field work. Last night’s show was the first to show some true international flavor.
Regarding the DSD Loch Ness episode, does anyone have any idea of the status of the possible carcass? It would seem that something would be in the works by now.
I happen to like Monsterquest. Not perfect, but informative nevertheless.
The “hobbit” episode was interesting. Wish they would have gone more into the FLORES island controversy regarding the “hobbit” skeletons found there.
Lestat; in the monster fish episode they went to South America but you’re right, the show does seem to be mostly restricted to the U.S. I would like to see them visit the UK in search for their big cats.
I have watched and recorded every episode thus far of MonsterQuest. IMO it is a good show for what it is. I don’t expect much when I watch it. If they actually did discover a sasquach, champ or a 14′ lake trout that show would not be the first place we heard about it. I was shocked that the squid video didn’t appear in the news. It is without a doubt the best cryptid series to ever appear on TV except perhaps for “Arthur C. Clark’s Mysterious World/Universe”. The upcoming werewolf episode should be interesting…laughable IMO but still interesting.
As for the DSD episode I really wish they would have gone more in depth about that possable carcass. It annoyed be that they kept referring to the plesiosaur as a “dinosaur”. It was not a dinosaur. I will say this about the show though, it is the first to get me thinking about the possability of Nessy in a positive light. I still don’t believe that the animal exists but I’m a bit more open minded now.
I’m personally glad that they didn’t get into the H. floresiensis controversy. From the descriptions of Orang Pendek, I think it’s clear that we’re dealing with a different species than the fossil hominid. What OP probably is, if it exists, is an unknown primate that has evolved bipedalism independently, much like Dr. Meldrum thinks is the case with sasquatch. H. Floresiensis, in contrast, is a branch of our own family, and would probably look a lot more like us than OP – relatively hairless, similar feet, similar face (if it in fact did evolve from a population of H. erectus). OP sounds like it more closely resembles an Orang Utan.
chunkyg,
Excellent idea. That works for getting close to elk, too. Probably more successful with herbivores and the OP appears to be an omnivore, just like us.
The show was about the Orang Pendek of Sumutra, not the hobbits of Isla Flores. The feet are very distinct, the only body part we can clearly compare.
The show gave me hope that they aren’t extinct yet. They’ve been seen in the last year or so by qualified observers – scientists and top-rank wildlife photographers.
I think next time they ought to come up around the mountain, in several groups, leave cameras (facing other cameras as has been suggested on this site) and come up that way. I suspect that the critters saw the expedition in their sampans, and left over the rim to the ouside of the cone. We need a lot more people, and more coorindation, and then I do think we will find them.
I haven’t caught all the episodes, but they made a real discovery with the squid episode.
Too much into an hour? Yep. They should publish a book for every season, with full details.
OP sounds like an orang utan offshoot with more bipedalism, e.g. the bonono compared to the chimpanzee, only more so. Apparently one flopped its hands over its head orangutan style at one point, which is a brachiator behavior. I sure hope they looked up into the trees. They might hvae been being watched the whole time.
lmao i thought it was just me who found the “this man says “segment of the show hilarious .i dont know what it is about it but it cracks me up