March 18, 2007
Jim Jung, 54, an Illinois panther researcher and Fortean author passed away on March 15, 2007. He had for years gathered the disputed information that convinced him that black panthers and eastern cougars lived in his home state. As long as his website remains active, his cougar data on the web can be found here and here.
Jung had just published his special look at the strange phenomena of southern Illinois, in the area north of Cairo called Egypt. He was also known, for the last decade, for his annual Southern Illinois almanac, The Waterman & Hill Traveller’s Companion.
Scott Maruna first noted Jung’s death online yesterday:
It is with a heavy heart that I must report that the biofortean community has lost a valuable member. Jim Jung, of southern Illinois, has succumbed to stage four lung cancer….Sadly, distance prevented me from Knowing Jung better than I did, but…I do know that the world is worse off for the loss of this hardworking, generous and scientific man. My prayers go out to his wife, Ruby.Scott Maruna, Saying Goodbye to an Illinois Cougar Tracker
The Carbondale Southern Illinoisian also carried an article about Jung’s death, on March 17, 2007, entitled “Beloved outdoorsman Jim Jung dead at 54”.
Thanks, Kittenz.
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.
Filed under Books, Breaking News, CryptoZoo News, Cryptozoology, Mystery Cats, Obituaries