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New England Gardening

Wasn't there a dicsussion here about wierd cries & spooky animals

17 years ago

I'm sure I read stories on GW about people hearing unnatural animal cries & seeing beady eyes in the woods. I'm guessing it was this board but I could be wrong. There maybe an answer here. See link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mutant Animal

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Comments (29)

ginny12
17 years ago
There have been several such discussions here. Fisher cats, a kind of weasel, make human-like screams. I have heard them in my woods and seen one very early on a foggy May morning patrolling my perennial border for chipmunks. He stared boldly at me--it was a kind of blinking contest.

I saw the story you posted in the paper this morning. What a shame the biologists could not have gotten to the carcass to ID this animal. I did think of the Stephen King connection too....
siennact
17 years ago
How creepy! What a shame they didn't figure out what it was. I'd be hiding in my house if there was an animal attacking rotweillers and dobermans!
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Saypoint zone 6 CT
17 years ago
They should be able to get DNA even after the vultures picked it over. I wonder why nobody saved enough of it to do some testing?
patrick_nh
17 years ago
The biologists were contacted, but they refused to come out on some sasquatch chase. Funny how someone had a camera, yet couldn't be bothered to take clear unambiguous pictures. Also funny how someone was there to take photos, yet didn't have the foresight to move the animal at least into a barn or other area to prevent it's immediate destruction. Maybe they didn't want a reasonable explanation, then their photo wouldn't get so much mileage. It's just another internet hoax that the gullible will swallow up, as will those who attribute all sorts of mysterious sinister traits to our native New England wildlife, just waiting there in the woods........watching.

.....and they're properly called fishers, not fisher cats.
pablo_nh
17 years ago
It looked to me like a simple chow-cross. They have flattish faces, black tongues, and sometimes tend towards nasty disposition.

Just being ugly doesn't make it a "mutant" :)
chelone
17 years ago
Turner, huh? Home of good old "DeCoster Egg Farms". Ever been there? Tabloids must be starvin' for fodder these days.

Looks like a dead dog to me, too.
OKMoreh
17 years ago
A story out today says that samples were taken for DNA testing, and includes a photograph. Two people quoted in the article say that it looked like a dog.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2006/08/18/story_about_turners_mystery_beast_has_legs/

(story may only be available for a day or so)

Here is a link that might be useful: Story with photo
ginny12
17 years ago
I'm glad to see they got some DNA tho the judgment call of a feral dog seems fair enough. This is truly a "dog days" story, no pun intended.

And fisher cat is indeed a widely used common name for that particular critter. As in the New Hampshire minor league baseball team. There's not much right or wrong about common names anyway--only the scientific name matters in the end.
patrick_nh
17 years ago
True, but encouraging the use of the incorrect terms just promotes ignorance and spread of more Hillbilly Biology. Dumbing down things so the uninformed can understand them does not do them any favors. I was very disappointed when they decided to name that team. There was a front page spread in the Concord Monitor about the real animal and it's habits. Long since forgotten.
pablo_nh
17 years ago
ahhh- everyone knows what you're talking about when you say fisher cats.
mehearty
Original Author
17 years ago
Okmoreh thank you for posting that follow up link.
narcnh
17 years ago
'Just being ugly doesn't make it a "mutant"'

My Chow was grievously offended by that statement.

narcnh
hipchick
17 years ago
I am sorry, but the statement "and they're properly called fishers, not fisher cats" is just making me laugh.
If I call soda "pop" does that make me a hillbilly?
mehearty
Original Author
17 years ago
I ain't got no idear where dat fisher cat is at. =P

Narcnh your chow is beautiful! What would anyone call that pup ugly?
narcnh
17 years ago
mehearty, that's me. I just hadn't shaved before the pic was taken. Sorry for the confusion.

narcnh
pablo_nh
17 years ago
OK- your dog is a real cutie.
gregory2327
17 years ago
Calling it pop doesn't make you a hill billy, calling it soda, however, does. At least that was according to the majority of the guys I went to Army boot camp with. Most people called it pop and some called it "coke". Coke is a general definition - you would have to specify what kind of coke you wanted...you know Coke or Pepsi. Wicked confusing...wait, now I'm a hill billy for saying wicked...
ginny12
17 years ago
Hey, I am from NYC originally and it is called soda there. About as far from hillbilly as can be imagined. I think pop is a Midwestern thing.
Sue W (CT zone 6a)
17 years ago
Has anyone else ever heard soda generally called "tonic"? I grew up in the Boston area and my nana called it that.

Sue
claireplymouth z6b coastal MA
17 years ago
They also called it "tonic" when I was a kid in Weymouth, MA.

After all, gin and tonic is the quintessential summer drink.

Claire
Saypoint zone 6 CT
17 years ago
My friends in NC call Coke, "Co-Cola". Otherwise it's pop.
donnamp14
17 years ago
It's still "tonic" to me, being OFD. (Originally from Dorchester)
rudysmallfry
17 years ago
Yep,

NYC - soda
Boston - tonic
Chicago - pop

It's right up there with ordering a sub/grinder/hero/hogie/wedge for lunch.

Is that a real story? It looks so Photoshop to me. You sure it wasn't some Maine folks pulling a funny? There's some very creative folks in that state. If you've ever read the "do you have Lizzards" thread, it gives you a good sense of the sense of humor up there. It's good stuff.
chelone
17 years ago
I lived for many years in noHthehn NH. Everyone in my little town called it "tonic".

It was a wicked small town. ;) (They called them "fishuh cats", too.)
Sue W (CT zone 6a)
17 years ago
My brother from Dedham is here for the weekend. When he gets up I'm going to bait him with a couple of cans and see what he calls them...hehehe. I haven't lived in eastern MA since 1988 but I've had people who grew up in the area tell me they never called soda "tonic".

Sue
ginny12
17 years ago
My in-laws were dyed-in-the-wool old Yankees--back to mid 18c. They always said "tonic", FWIW.
ginny12
17 years ago
Late-breaking bulletin: I just heard on the radio that the University of Maine has identified the creature by DNA. It is a dog--a wild dog, according to WBZ. Film at 11, I bet.
chelone
17 years ago
Raise your "tonic" and toast the practicality of yankees. We KNEW it was dog all along.

:)
chelone
17 years ago
WCSH channel 6 from Portland, Me. announced that the DNA defined a dog... .

What a surprise.

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