Halloween MonsterQuest Marathon
Posted by: Loren Coleman on October 27th, 2009
Mark your calendars. Halloween brings with it more than Trick or Treaters. There will be a MonsterQuest Marathon on History to watch and critique, with eleven episodes plus a reprise showing of the two-hour special, “Abominable Snowman,” all noted below in Eastern times for Halloween.
October 31, 2009
08:00 AM
MonsterQuest: Super Rats
Recent archaeological evidence suggests that common rats once grew to massive sizes. Are these huge rodents making a comeback? Claims of huge rat sightings are being reported in startling numbers. Animal experts believe that these mutant rodents are getting bigger and bolder. Journey into the sewers with rat experts and meet witnesses who tell of cat-sized rats that have appetites for just about anything–including human flesh!
09:00 AM
MonsterQuest: Giant Squid Found?
Is the legend of the Kraken, a tentacled beast as large as a whale, based on myth or a real creature? Take an expedition to the Sea of Cortez, Mexico where fishermen regularly claim to encounter large schools of giant squid. Watch as squid expert Scott Cassel uses lures with built-in cameras in an attempt to video a Kraken-sized squid 1,000 feet below the ocean. What Cassel and his team discover will make history. One-part history, one-part science and one part monster, discover the truth behind legendary creatures.
10:00 AM
MonsterQuest: Giant Killer Snakes
Head deep into the Venezuela wilderness where there have been sightings of huge man-eating snakes–anaconda. For the first time ever an industrial acoustic sonar camera will be used to search for these monsters. The investigation will also search the Everglades of Florida where pet pythons have escaped and are multiplying and growing to huge sizes, preying on all kinds of animals, even swallowing a full grown alligator in one case. Could a human become their next victim?
11:00 AM
MonsterQuest: Giant Bear Attack
Are big bears are getting more assertive and aggressive? In pre-historic times, giant bears weighed up to a ton and stalked early man. Listen as witnesses describe horrific bear attacks and take a look at unusual bear remains. The team journeys from Alaska to New Jersey to learn about bear activity and if hybridization or the next step in bear evolution could produce another crop of giant bears?
12:00 PM
MonsterQuest: Flying Monsters
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.
01:00 PM
MonsterQuest: Monster Spiders
Join an expedition into the wilderness of South America on the hunt for a monster-sized predatory spider. In the forests of Venezuela there are reports of spiders big enough to hunt and eat a small dog, and villagers build their huts in such a way as to keep giant spiders out. In 2006 an American soldier in Iraq was photographed with what appeared to be a three foot long arachnid. Watch as experts investigate the validity of these and other strange sightings, and examine man’s fear of spiders.
02:00 PM
MonsterQuest: Devils in New Jersey
For over 250 years a frightening winged beast has been menacing the residents of New Jersey. The Jersey Devil is described as a winged half-bird half-horse, with hoofed feet and reptilian tail and a penetrating scream that echoes through the forests of New Jersey’s Pine Barrens. During one phenomenal week, over a thousand individuals were terrorized: a trolley car was attacked, schools were closed and panic gripped the area. Wildlife experts claim however, that misidentification with a known animal may be responsible for the encounters, but recent witnesses who see the beast are scared for their lives–and say the scientific evidence will prove there is a monster. MonsterQuest launches an unprecedented expedition for the Jersey Devil and sends sixty men into the forbidding forest while detectives meet the witnesses to discover the truth behind the Jersey Devil.
03:00 PM
MonsterQuest: American Werewolf
The werewolf is a centuries-old legend based on myth, not a real animal. However, local eyewitnesses in Wisconsin and Michigan report seeing a dogman–a tall hairy man-beast. Professional hunters and trackers armed with tranquilizer guns will be deployed in an area of recent sightings to find this creature. For the first time polygraphs and hypnosis will be used on eyewitnesses with astonishing results. One-part history, one-part science and one part monster, discover the truth behind legendary monsters.
04:00 PM
MonsterQuest: Chupacabra [sic]
In 1995, a beast dubbed “El Chupacabra,”[sic] Spanish for “The Goatsucker,” was first sighted and accused of killing and draining the blood of hundreds of farm animals in Puerto Rico. Eyewitnesses describe it as a two-legged reptile-like beast with sharp claws and sharper fangs. But another rash of sightings, and killings, in Texas last year produced eyewitness descriptions of a creature that looked very different. This episode will go on the hunt for the Texas chupacabra [sic]. And for first time on television, DNA tests will be performed on evidence from both the Puerto Rico and Texas sightings in effort to scientifically prove just what these mystery beasts could be.
05:00 PM
MonsterQuest: Bigfoot in New York
What is the Monster of Whitehall? In 1976, in upstate New York, several police officers reported seeing an animal that they couldn’t identify. It was described as a “large creature, seven to eight feet tall, walking like a gorilla hunched over and making a sound like “a woman screaming.” More than 30 years have passed and the sightings continue. The original police officers have agreed to be tested. Follow our team as they work with local researchers and renowned wildlife experts on the trail of the Monster of Whitehall.
06:00 PM
MonsterQuest: Mega Jaws
Sharks have terrified people for centuries and deep within the forbidding waters of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula may lurk a mammoth sixty foot monster. Could it be a new giant species or some living relic, hidden in the sea? In prehistoric times, huge carnivorous sharks, more than twice the size of a great white, ruled the waves. Marine experts claim these giants went extinct, but evidence may challenge that. Meanwhile, frightened Mexican fisherman talk of being stalked by a “Black Demon”; and sailors report close collisions with a shark unlike anything that they have encountered before. In a search for answers, MonsterQuest uses a combined air and sea search for this monster shark that may be prowling the last unexplored frontier of our planet.
08:00 PM
MonsterQuest: Abominable Snowman
The Abominable Snowman is among the most frightening and notorious monsters in history. This ferocious nocturnal creature is said to attack people and slaughter their animals. Witnesses report sightings of a strange, hair-covered beast and claim to have heard blood-curdling screams. Evidence amassed over the last century may point to a startling conclusion: that something real and unknown stalks the desolate mountains of the Far East. Scientists and experts will examine the clues while the MonsterQuest team will undertake their most dangerous expedition to date with an epic ascent onto the snowy peaks where recent evidence of the beast was found.
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.
