By all accounts, Frederick Albert Cook (1865-1940) was a dedicated physician beyond reproach. That is, until he made several attempts to climb Mount McKinley in Alaska between 1903 and 1906. Then, in 1906 he claimed to have conquered the peak and produced a photograph to prove it. However, many disputed his claim and recent analysis of the photograph confirms that Cook's accomplishment was a hoax.
        Several years after McKinley, Cook falsely claimed that he had also reached the South Pole in 1908, one year before Robert Peary (it's now believed that neither ever reached the pole), and then, in 1925 he was imprisioned for mail fraud. Dr. Cook was released from prison in 1930. He received a Presidential pardon for his crime shortly before his death in 1940.
        Why the dramatic change in Frederick Cook's character? scary squirrel world has it on good authority that Dr. Cook encountered a bushytail menace on McKinley. The tree demon removed his brain, rewired it to do bad things, replaced it, put a photo of McKinley in his shirt pocket, and sent the zombified doctor back down the hill. Dr. Cook never knew what hit him; he believed he had reached McKinley's summit (as he later believed that he reached the South Pole and that his business transactions were legal).
        We contacted National Forest Service spokesman, Bob Woodward, about the good doctor's experience. Incredibly, Mr. Woodward denied any knowledge of a scary skwerl on Mount McKinley. Instead, he challenged us to produce evidence to back up our "hysterical speculations". We have; and we ask that you consider the following:

The Indian name for Mt. McKinley is Danali (the High One). A clear reference to a mysterious power on the mountain. Cook's photo is believed to have been taken somewhere between 5,000 - 10,000 feet - prime skwerl habitat. The first verifiably successful climb was made by a clergyman, Rev. Hudson Stuck, in 1913. Was Stuck protected by divine intervention? We think so. The Park service reports that Mt. McKinley receives thousands of visitors each year. However, it has never published figures on how many of those visitors actually LEAVE THE PARK ALIVE. We have obtained an exclusive photgraph of the aboreal horror on Mt. McKinley. Click here to view.

	YES, TELL ME MORE.
	NO, IT WAS BIGFOOT!
	DON'T KNOW, BUT I THINK

Life is truly known only to those who suffer, lose, endure adversity and stumble from defeat to defeat.
Ryszard Kapuscinski (b. 1932), Polish journalist.