Ropen, Monkey Men & More: A MonsterQuest Month
Posted by: Loren Coleman on June 3rd, 2009
June is going to be one very strange MonsterQuest month.
Upcoming Episodes
MonsterQuest : Gigantic Killer Fish II
Airs on Wednesday June 03 08:00 PM; Thursday June 04 12:00 AM
Monsters lurk in our lakes and rivers and along our coastlines, waiting to get their jaws into their next victim. The Goliath Grouper is a monster fish that inhabits the tropical shallow waters of Florida and the Caribbean. In 1895, the New York Times reported on a monster grouper that measured in at over 1,500 pounds. This super-sized fish is making a comeback, growing to immense proportions with the aggression to match. A recent victim was attacked while spear fishing and describes having the Goliath grouper wrap its vicious jaws around his head. Meanwhile, in Minnesota, a resurgence of a monster no less aggressive is on the rise: the Muskie. Also known as the muskellunge, this monster fish has frightening teeth that draw blood from a growing list of victims. Now, our team launches expeditions beneath the waters of Florida and sends ROVs under the ice of Minnesota to find out how large and how aggressive these creatures can get.
MonsterQuest : Flying Monsters
Airs on Wednesday June 03 09:00 PM; Thursday June 04 01:00 AM
If there is one place on earth that could be home to a prehistoric flying monster, it is Papua New Guinea. These islands to the north of Australia are the closest thing to a real “lost world” and eyewitnesses here claim that a terrifying monster is circling above them. Natives call this creature the “Demon Flyer,” but its twenty-foot wingspan, gray leathery skin and crested head appear to be only one thing–a living pterosaurs. Ancient sea charts made by early explorers in the sixteenth century show that they saw pterosaur-like animals and warned mariners of these legendary monsters. Paleontologists, however, are doubtful and suggest that a more likely explanation is a yet to be discovered species of giant bat. Whichever theory is correct there is something here that has reportedly killed locals and may have been caught on tape by a western witness.
MonsterQuest : Gigantic Killer Fish II
MonsterQuest : Isle of the Lost Tiger
Airs on Wednesday June 10 08:00 PM; Thursday June 11 12:00 AM
A remote island off the coast of Australia was once home to a real monster with vampire-like tendencies. The Tasmanian Tiger, which was known for its massive jaws and sharp incisors, stalked livestock and terrified the human inhabitants of the island before a bounty brought about the Tiger’s extinction almost eighty years ago. But if the eyewitness stories and scientific breakthroughs are correct, this creature may be on the verge of making a comeback. Across Tasmania there have been over 350 sightings of this monster, including reports from experienced biologists and outdoorsmen. Meanwhile, in an Australian laboratory, one scientist is using a preserved strand of DNA in an attempt to resurrect the tiger. Now, the MonsterQuest science and expedition teams will seek to find the ultimate proof that the Tasmanian Tiger could be alive and stalking the subtropical forests of this distant island.
MonsterQuest : The Curse of the Monkey Man
Airs on Wednesday June 10 09:00 PM; Thursday June 11 1:00 AM
Engrained in the history and mythology of India are tales of a ferocious creature, half-man, half-ape. It has been dubbed the monkey-man and headlines across the world have told of the vicious nocturnal attacks that occurred in India’s capital, New Delhi. The city’s population was gripped with fear of a violent creature described by eyewitnesses as having sharp claws, fangs and dark hair. After three people died and dozens were hospitalized fleeing the creature, 3,000 police officers were tasked with capturing the animal, but came up empty handed. Experts were divided over whether this was a case of mass panic or an unknown primate. Even today, witnesses in other parts of the country continue to report terrifying encounters with a similar beast. MonsterQuest launches an expedition and meets the victims of the monkey man, sees their scars first hand and searches for a connection to the most recent sightings.
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.
This season is turning out pretty good. They have been doing a really good job.
Any of these going to have a Loren appearance?
Also I think I saw you on an Animal Planet show this weekend……can’t remember what it was about.
I don’t think I am in any of these, for I wasn’t along on the Asian trips. But then, I never can tell when another interview some other time might have involved questions answered that might turn up in another spot I wasn’t expecting.
StinkFoot also says: “I think I saw you on an Animal Planet show this weekend……can’t remember what it was about.”
Ha ha, another memorable appearance, humm?
Unless it was my interview in what I thought was going to be the forthcoming “Beasts of the Bible,” I’m not sure what this was.
I’m particularly looking forward to the Ropen and Monkeyman episodes.
The Monkeyman specifically has been in the news ocassionally for the past 10 years or so. Some Hindus even claim it is the Monkey-God Hanuman. Who knows?
A monster muskie, eh? Now there’s a whopper of a fish story.
Oof-da.
Don’t get me wrong, I love when they do episodes in Minnesota but they pitch the fish in our lakes to be sharks of the north or something. It is rare to have attacks on people and when they do it’s just some stitches generally to fix you up.
Of course the bigger the fish, the more damage that may be done however it simply is not a common thing and very few people worry about getting bit by large fish.
Looking for large fish is enjoyable (look for giant Sturgeon sometime MQ!) but please don’t make it seem like they are picking us off 🙂
This season has been better than last but the Flying Devil episode this week was not that good. The drawback to watching is knowing that if something awesome happened it would have leaked out prior to the air date. It’s difficult to keep any secrets with this pesky interweb around. (which I only spend about 4 hours a day on).
Loren certainly brings a knowledgeable voice of credibility to the episodes he appears in. They are lucky to have him involved.
I guess this is pat Loren on the back day! It is certainly deserved.
I agree, raisinsofwrath, that the “Flying Devil” (I think the official title for the episode is “Flying Monsters”) broadcast was indeed “not that good,” but for reasons few would guess. I spoke with Garth Guessman (who helped lead the MonsterQuest explorers in the interior of New Britain Island earlier this year) the day after, and learned much.
Everyone was exhausted after getting to the remote area where they camped (I can understand, having been through something similar on Umboi Island in 2004). But when Guessman mentioned staying up to watch the sky, they told him that they were there to film, not to do research. He stayed up and saw a light that differed, at least somewhat, from any ropen light that he had seen before. He later sent native guides to check out the location and they returned to tell him that there was no road or air strip in that area where the light was seen.
When the other men awoke, they ignored Guessman’s account.
Near the end of the show, two camp fires were shown to illustrate how strange lights can have a common explanation (unfortunately, those two lights had nothing to do with the sighting by Guessman). I believe that the producers succeeded in creating the show they wanted to create, according to their plan.