Author Denver Michaels

When thinking of the various "monsters" out there, the New Jersey Vegetable Monster will undoubtedly come up.  Wait a minute... A vegetable monster? C'mon, man... What the *%^* is a vegetable monster?  Glad you asked. I briefly discussed the New Jersey Vegetable Monster in my book Detours Into the Paranormal: Atlantic City Road Trip .   The following is an excerpt: ...This creature, if it ever existed at all, has little evidence to support its existence. In fact, New Jersey Vegetable Monster is a term used within the cryptozoology community to describe a report that is so “out there” that no one could possibly believe it. The addition of the New Jersey Vegetable Monster to the lexicon comes from a sighting by an elderly gentleman who was severely intoxicated. The man claimed to see a large humanoid that resembled a stalk of broccoli. Unsurprisingly, the encounter occurred in the Pine Barrens. As ridiculous as a “broccoli man” sounds, there is another case that comes to mi...

When wading through the historical accounts from the early days of the United States of the recovery of giant skeletons from burial mounds , especially those considered to be of Adena construction, a recurring theme presents itself—strange tablets inscribed with hieroglyphs were often found among the remains of the dead. This curious phenomenon opens up a Pandora’s box of questions about the ancient Mound Builders! In Fauquier County, Virginia, two giant skeletons were unearthed from a mound in 1866. The excavators also recovered typical artifacts such as spearheads; however, a tablet containing “hieroglyphics of a very curious character” was also present. 1 Mounds that held the remains of eleven-foot-tall men were opened in Michigan. One of the tombs contained a strange tablet inscribed with “curious characters.” The  St. Joseph Weekly  reported on the event in their September 21, 1847 issue: A Carson City, Mich., correspondent of the Detroit News writes that the remains of...

A strange story was circulating around the Charleston, West Virginia area of two fishermen who landed a three-foot octopus in the Kanawha River in late-December 1933. Charleston residents Robert Trice and R.M. Saunders landed the creature while fishing on Christmas day. The  Charleston Daily Mail  ran a piece on December 26 titled “Three-Foot Octopus is Slain in Kanawha,” which recounted the tale. According to Trice, the octopus latched onto his boat with its tentacles. He and his fishing partner Saunders killed it several blows from an oar and by stabbing it with a knife. The one-of-a-kind catch was given to a local taxidermist for preservation.  How did an octopus find itself in the Kanawha River? There have been cases in which an octopus has wandered into brackish water from the sea, but it is a stretch to believe a wayward octopus could adapt to freshwater and be found all the way in West Virginia! That said, there have been a few other strange reports. On January ...

In 1971, an unusual creature was spotted in a lagoon outside of Havana, Cuba. The lagoon, a flooded quarry, is located in San Miguel del Padrón, a suburb of Havana. Rumors of a frightening creature quickly spread throughout Havana; crowds of curious onlookers flocked to the lagoon. As news of the monster spread, the masses grew—crowds that once were in the hundreds, quickly escalated to thousands in number. The creature created such a buzz within the community, that the government-ran radio station, Radio Progresso, took an interest and sent reporters to investigate. The correspondents descended upon the scene; they examined eyewitness reports and interviewed witnesses. Descriptions of the creature vary; some described it as spindle-shaped, with large and threatening yellow eyes; others claimed to see a horned, hippopotamus-like animal with a featureless face. According to one witness who claimed to have seen the animal on multiple occasions: “It doesn’t look like anything but a black...

Surely over the years, you have read tons of stupid " Florida Man " headlines. The tales of Florida Man's exploits are colorful to say the least. For me, when I think of dumb Florida Man stunts and stories, my mind goes straight to the tale of "Old Three Toes." Strange Tracks The story of Old Three Toes goes back to 1948, when Clearwater residents began spotting large three-toed tracks on the beaches. As time went on, the tracks showed up in neighboring communities. It did not take long for the fourteen-inch-long, eleven-inch-wide tracks to attract national attention. One of my favorite Fortean authors and investigators, Ivan T. Sanderson , traveled to Florida to investigate the mysterious tracks for the New York Herald Tribune. Sanderson spent two weeks interviewing witnesses and examining plaster casts of the tracks. Around this time, more three-toed tracks appeared about 100 miles to the north along the Suwanee River. While flying over the Suwanee, Sanderson ...

On March 26, 1962, the Ocala Star-Banner ran an article about a Pensacola sea monster that attacked five teenage boys. The piece was titled “4 Teenage Skindivers Still Missing After Raft is Abandoned.” The text of the story is as follows: Four teenaged skindivers remained missing today after abandoning their tide-swept rubber raft in the Gulf of Mexico Saturday. A fifth youth swam two miles to shore about dark Saturday. The four were Bradford Rice, 14, Warren Felley, 16, Eric Ruyle, 16, and Larry Stuart Bill, 17. The fifth youth was Brian McCleary, 16 found sleeping on a beach near Fort McRae early Sunday. McCleary said he and the other four were skindiving in the gulf when the tide began carrying them to sea. Swells broke over their raft. He said they tried to move to a buoy but missed. Then, he said, they abandoned the raft to swim ashore. The raft washed ashore on Gulf Beach. Face masks, shoes, and fins were inside. McCleary said he, Bill and Ruyle developed cra...