NOTE: the style and format of the show was very different back in these days! But we think you’ll still enjoy it.
Cian is fascinated by the origins of cyptids and mysterious animals. How do these beliefs get started? Often we’re sold the idea that a creature has been reported for centuries, or has its origins in local folklore. And sometimes it’s clear that a creature has actually been invented (or rebranded) relatively recently, and its supposed history is just a fiction. From the woods outside the Wide Atlantic Weird bunker, he *enjoys* a can of Fosters and gets stuck into this hairy topic.
THE YOWIE: This hairy wildman is, bluntly described, Australia’s answer to Bigfoot. It became incredibly popular during the 1970s as the result of one man’s journalism. Suddenly, it seemed that Yowies were everywhere! But do the roots of the Yowie myth go back any further? Is it fair to make a connection between this modern cryptid and 19th-century sightings of ‘wildmen’ and ‘Australian gorillas?’ Listen on to find out, mate!
THE MINNESOTA RUNESTONE: When an Irish journalist visits a remote town in the cold north of the US, she finds a community that is united in its belief that Vikings visited the area in medieval times, unrecorded by conventional history. As it becomes clear that this belief has some very strange undertones, things get weird. Based on a true story (ish!).
References:
Graham Joyner, The Hairy Man Of South Eastern Australia
Graham Joyner, The Australian Gorilla: An Insoluble Problem
Joe Nickell, Skeptical Enquirer Searching For The Yowie
Tony Healy & Paul Cropper, The Yowie: In Search of Australia’s Bigfoot