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1. On your first day, you received a report that mountain climbers had been attacked by a large, ape-like creature in the Himalayan Mountains. Your supervisor asked you to identify the threat. After immediately crossing off the impossible candidates, which is the local name of the entity that you determined to be the culprit?

Answer: Yeti

Yes - you said to yourself. I get an easy task on my first day! And so it was.

You immediately eliminated the following suspects. A Succubus is a female demon that appears in the very interesting dreams of men. Bigfoot and Sasquatch are similar creatures that are thought to live in Northwest American and Canadian mountain areas. However, the Yeti may be their distant Asian cousin who (according to legend) lives a solitary life in the desolate Himalayas.

Oxford University Professor Bryan Skyes has performed DNA analysis on a Tibet "yeti" hair sample - he matched it to an ancient Norwegian jawbone from a polar bear that lived between 40,000 to 120,000 years ago. Hmmm...so a Yeti was perhaps a misnamed giant white bear?

2. Alert! A hotline item came in about a woman from Cuan Courcai (Cork Harbour) in Ireland - she maintains that her fisherman grandfather was caught in a storm during the full moon. As he struggled to control his boat, a hideous creature with piggy eyes, sharp green teeth and a red nose emerged in the water near him. After much research, you determined this entity was likely which of the following?

Answer: Merman

Another easy one for your first day. A Nile Crocodile is a 16-20 ft. reptile that lives in lakes, marshes and rivers in sub-Sahara Africa - an unlikely candidate for this sighting.

In popular Irish lore, a merman is described as a mythical entity with these rather strange features found in the cold Atlantic sea. This appears to be the most probable entity grandfather encountered on that stormy night.

The Loch Ness Monster (Nessie) was discounted immediately because she is said to thrive in a deep, silted loch in Scotland.

Encantado ("enchanted one" - merman in Portuguese) is not known to travel far from that coast. Our team also discounted this option due to Encantado's affinity for romancing young ladies on Portuguese beaches and his love for fruity drinks served with little umbrella garnishes!

3. You are asked to review a "Cold Case" file. Between November 1966 and December 1967 in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, five grave diggers, two firemen, one sheriff's deputy and several teens reported a sighting of a "man-like creature flying low" with "glowing red eyes...and a ten-foot wing span." What did local residents and local/national USA journalists name this entity?

Answer: Mothman

Initially, this creature was called "Mothman." However, after the first sighting, Dr. Robert Smith at West Virginia University identified Mothman as a Sandhill Crane (a bird larger than a man with a 7 ft. wingspan and red-ringed eyes.)

Later, a group of construction workers tied flashlights to helium balloons to mimic Mothman which led to another sighting.

Point Pleasant held its first Mothman Festival in 2002 and a 12' metal sculpture of the Mothman was installed in the town in 2003. It is actually quite lovely - please research this photo on the Point Pleasant website. Knowing this funny myth, it will make you smile. :-)

4. Sorry...you are still on desk duty. Your new research project involves Deborah Smith who emigrated from England to New Jersey to wed Mr. Leeds during the 1700s. After bearing 12 children, she was a bit upset to learn that she would have a 13th. According to legend, her childbirth was long and difficult, so she invoked Lucifer (the devil) to assuage her pain. Her child was born, but took immediate flight as a demon that local legends call what?

Answer: Jersey Devil

Local legend claims the poor 13th child was gifted to Lucifer and thus became the Jersey Devil. The area enjoys the mythos. (Crowley is a handsome yet despicable demonic character in the American TV program "Supernatural" as played by English actor Mark A. Shephard.)

Access the New Jersey Historical Society website to find many interesting "tongue-in-cheek" facts about the Jersey Devil and local festivals celebrating the creature.

5. The California branch of PIG-STY is very active. Our operative has informed us that a young astronomer named Norrin Radd of the world Zenn-ha has been brought to our base. Background - a tricky agreement to save his planet led him to become the herald of the evil Galactus (the planet devourer.) We placed him under our Witness Protection and erased his true name. A leak occurred and this hero was identified in comic books under his alias. What was it? (Hint - think of the elemental symbol Ag and a water sport.)

Answer: Silver Surfer

Poor Norrin. Galactus changed him into a silver persona with a faster-than-light surfboard-like transportation device. Once he found Earth, he met and joined the Fantastic Four superheroes in their fight against evil. These were among the earliest PIG-STY operatives in the California office. (Go team!)

The Silver Surfer was created in the 1960s. Famous comic book author
Stan Lee later stated that in the middle of plot development, co-plotter Jack Kirby developed "some nut on some sort of a surfboard." This later became a very popular character in the comic world.

6. Again, your boss chains you to the research desk. (Is there never going to be a field assignment?) Blowing the dust off the old files, you begin your task - discover the identity of the 19th century solicitor/estate agent who took a train, then transferred to a coach drawn by four coal-black horses to finally arrive in a castle high in the Carpathian Mountains. Who is this person?

Answer: Jonathan Harker

Jonathan Harker was the unfortunate solicitor who was charged to find Dracula a new home in England. Things didn't work out so well. Van Helsing was the scholar whose family (secret PIG-STY operatives) followed the Count's travels throughout time and lands. Renfield was a human under the influence of Dracula - an inmate of an insane asylum diagnosed as a "zoophagous maniac" (carnivorous mad man.) Mina was the love of Dracula's "undead" life.

Please reference Bram Stoker's "Dracula" for additional details.

7. Our newest intern, Miss Cam Cardtrashcan, is a disappointment in many ways. After many chances, her true incompetence emerged when Miss C. misfiled an old closed PIG-STY file as "INVALID." Which of the following keywords identifies this as a valid 19th century mystery that our premier operative solved?

Answer: Hound, Holmes and Moor

Sherlock Holmes has always served as the consummate professional of our organization. It was completely unacceptable that our new worker did not immediately recognize that the case of Holmes, the "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and the Dartford Moor was a valid one.

Although Miss Marple and Father Brown are both undercover PIG-STY operatives in the areas indicated, neither had cases involving canines thus making these UNTRUE files.

Please be advised...the valiant operative Captain Jack Sparrow (Ret.) had nothing whatsoever to do with the tragic incident involving the pack of Shelties and the fate of Atlantis. (No further comment will be made on this subject due to continuing national security issues.)

In hindsight, Miss C. was a poor hire as she was at the extreme bottom of the applicant pool. She was soon escorted through the front door by PIG-STY security.

8. You and Joe-Bob share a cubicle at PIG-STY headquarters. He is an expectant first-time father. Having never had a child yourself, you decide to research this topic to offer advice to the father-to-be using the work-related database. Which of the following entities did you determine was NOT associated with children?

Answer: Kukulkan

Kukulkan is the ancient feathered serpent god of the Maya and other Meso-American cultures. (Although a cool god, he is not seen much around pregnant women.)

Kokopelli is a fertility deity shown as a "humpbacked flute player" among the Southwestern American cultures. The Hopi tribe described him as carrying unborn children on his back to distribute to women. Old women, new mothers and young girls were especially leery about encountering him. (Do tell!)

German folklore holds that storks found babies in caves or marshes and delivered them in baskets or in their beaks by dropping them down the chimney. Families notified storks that they were interested in a "new addition" by placing sweets for the stork on the window sill.

Eileithyia was the Greek goddess of childbirth. She is known as "the goddess of the pains of childbirth." (I am certain that she heard "Ooh, Ooh, that really hurts" many times!)

9. Your next research project involves human behavior. Case study - I am a 16-year old house-sitter in a scary movie. I invite my friends to a party in a creepy old house. Strange creaking noises, doors slamming and eerie stuff occur. At the first sign of strange happenings, what would you predict is NOT the typical reaction of Teens in a Terror Movie (TITM)?

Answer: All boys and girls leave calmly as a group.

PIG-STY's extensive research library of horror movies does not contain a single example of TITM leaving calmly as a group. However, we continue to watch the genre in case such an event should ever occur.

Our office is now printing warning labels about potential supernatural neighborhood hazards - so far we have identified "The Ghost in the Leaf Blower" and "The Demon Hedgehog Next Door" We are still investigating case of "The Undead One who Mows the Lawn Before 9:00 am on Sundays".

10. Many PIG-STY units and missions have been de-classified - some have made it to the silver screen. One describes our agents' uniform (black suit, tie, sunglasses and multi-use pen) and provides info about storage lockers, postage workers and pizza parlors. Which of the following is NOT the correct name of an operative in the missions humans call "Men in Black?"

Answer: Agent Jack

Jack Jeebs is known by Agent K as an illicit trader of stolen objects and alien fire-arms. He is a criminal of an unknown alien species that can regrow his head once it is blown off. ("You have any idea how much that stings?" is a statement he often says.) He is NOT an agent.

Agent Frank is a Remoolian who appears in the form of an Earth canine of the Pug variety. (In "Men in Black," Frank is played by Mushu the Pug in a brilliant casting decision.)

Agent K is the ever-amazing Tommy Lee Jones, and Agent Z continues to entertain as Will Smith. There is talk about a MIB#4...cross your fingers.

Source: Author Jinxgirl

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor trident before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Welcome to PIG-STY. Here are your assignments. Quiz

Congratulations! You are now part of the ultra-secret Paranormal Investigative Group - Science and Technology section of (Scotland) Yard (a.k.a. PIG-STY.) Prepare to be challenged.

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