Philadelphia Weirdness

When Is A Yeti Not A Yeti ?

Of all the names given to various monsters throughout the world, the most absurd ever has to be "The Yardley Yeti." Why? I hear you ask. Well, imagine the scene. It's the Fall of 2006 and Bucks County is being prowled by a sinister creature. The name dubbed by the press and as told by the witness who saw it, a Mr. Jonathan Maberry, certainly has a ring to it, and yet there was one major...indeed, very major flaw. The animal was a mangy fox!! Yes, we all have gotten used to so-called mysterious beasts being explained away as hoax or misinterpretation and other elusive creatures solved just as we were getting all excited, but imagine the confusion when the Philly press among others got hold of the story and monster-fever hit the headlines.

Indeed, "exclusive" photographs were posted on the reputable Cryptomundo website, cryptozoology being the study of newly discovered creatures, possibly extinct yet still surviving animals, etc., but the Yardley Yeti was far from a monster story.

Mr. Maberry spotted the creature in a parking lot in Bucks County near New Hope and snapped several photos of the animal, stating that he didn't think it looked anything like a fox. A fox? What's that got to do with a Yeti? At first we thought that the Yardley monster may have been one of the feared Albatwitches, or "apple snatchers" said to roam Lancaster County as hairy humanoids, but no, this was to be one of the least monstrous tales of a monster of all time!

The biggest mystery of all was how the mangy fox had become a mystery, or how such a poor, malnourished beast became a brief celebrity, worrying proof that witnesses are all too keen to misinterpret, and the press all too keen to fall for it. Similar events transpired around the same time throughout the United States when alleged "goatsuckers," or indeed the mythical Chupacabra, were photographed, but showed nothing more than hybrids and mangy coyotes.

As if the true Yeti of mythology isn't ridiculed enough, the poor Abominable Snowman now has to share the headlines with a hungry fox!

The photos can be seen at Cryptomundo HERE.

Sources:
Cryptomundo.com
Free Republic.com

Image Credit: Flickr user gruntzooki