Monster of the Medway?

 

Kent Sea Monster?

Sightings of a sea serpent have been reported this week in Chatham in Kent, leaving many to wonder whether the fabled Monster of The Medway has returned to the river.

Estimated to be 30 feet long, with A COW-LIKE HEAD and bulging green eyes, the ‘Monster of the Medway’ was seen this week moving slowly through the water close to the dockyard.

Dockyard volunteer George Hornby said: “I was standing on the deck of HMS CAVALIER,  taking a few minutes for myself when I saw a long shadow moving across the river.  It seemed strange to me on a cloudy day to see a shadow – it clearly wasn’t a reflection! Then I saw what looked like a head rise from the water, bob and then snort and I knew that it wasn’t a shadow!”

This is not the first time that a sea serpent has been spotted in the Medway.

On the 4th October 1911 the Dublin Daily Express carried a story about a sea serpent who was trailed in the Medway by a naval boat, with a nine-pounder gun in the bow, sent in search of the monster who had been troubling the people of Chatham.  Back in October 1911, the naval boat reportedly fired shots at the monster but it got away due to having “a bullet-proof carcase” that the “shots have harmlessly rebounded from”.

Other monstrous sightings have been recorded over the years in Chatham.  Lynnette Crisp, Director of Communications and Public Engagement here at Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust said: “We have records in our archives detailing the capture of a monster fish of eleven feet in length and girth of six feet’ back in October 1850.  There are also newspaper cuttings from 1911 detailing the thirty foot long serpent, headed like a cow, with green, bulging eyes, and a jointed ridge the thickness of a man’s arm running along its back.  The newspaper reported scores of eye-witnesses who gave account of this particular ‘Medway Monster’.”

The Medway has undergone some work over the last decade with The Maritime Trust aerating the basins, which has seen an increase in wildlife to the region.  Grant Leathwhite from Chatham Maritime Trust said: “I’ve had a hunch about the presence of monsters in the Medway for quite some time. 15 Aeration heads are based in Basin 2 and have been in place for about 5 years and this has resulted in significant life coming back to the Basin. We do have some fairly large jellyfish in there. Basin 1 is where the Seals, Rays, Eels come in through the lock gates from the Medway. Who knows if more mysterious life has also come back?”

Here at the dockyard, the team are unsure whether the recent sighting this week is the original Sea Serpent from 1911 or a descendent of the beast. Sadly, the eyewitnesses who saw the beast was too shocked to reach for his phone and take a photograph.

Lynnette Crisp, added: “we have alerted everyone in the Dockyard and asked all to keep a watching brief – we believe that we should find it easier to catalogue this particular monster now that everyone carries a camera phone with them these days – unlike in 1911!”

https://thedockyard.co.uk/news/sea-serpent-kraken-spotted-in-the-river-medway/?srsltid=AfmBOorWF-MwoZhkPRunlr4JO3Zg1-KMbH2r2l7Gi9FyKNuDVcD2XPwy

Seems genuine until you check the date April 1^st !

 

Godzilla or Mirage?

 

The Antarctic Sea Monster

 In February  1950, the Daiichi Nisshinmaru a whaling expedition, came across something strange in the Antarctic Ocean. Early in the morning  the helmsman saw a strange creature   on the port side. Its head was sticking out of the sea . He called to  the second mate and the radio chief to see it.They saw It had a face like  a turtle with a large neck. It was covered with dark brown hair. It repeatedly dived and reappeared

In 1957 There was a strange sighting at Shoa Station in the Antarctic. A  member of the team Toru Kikuchi, swore he saw a huge Godzilla-like monster .It was assumed to be a mirage.

Then in February 13, 1958, in the evening , the crew of the Soya , a Japanese research spotted   a large  black object on the surface of the sea some distance  away. As the captain and crew watched  the object turned toward the ship .The creature  was covered with  dark brown hair .The head was shaped like a cow or horse, but the top  of the head was rounded. It had large eyes .One crew member said it had dorsal spikes.Some said it had a long neck. It was in sight for less than a minute.

.S o had Godzilla appeared or was it some prehistoric relic still alive? Or was it just a mirage caused by the icy seas and landscape? Maybe some other sightings  may be reported or found.

The Berwick Vampire

 

A vampire story for Halloween.

Berwick is a town in the borders of Scotland. 

Berwick upon Tweed Vampire

’ This account of a haunting is considered to be one of the earliest possible accounts of a vampire in Britain. It was written by William Parvus, also known as William of Newburgh (or Newbury) (Born 1136 – Died 1198), an Augustinian Canon who wrote several accounts of haunting/potential vampire cases.

‘At the mouth of the river Tweed, and in the jurisdiction of the king of Scotland, there stands a noble city which is called Berwick. In this town a certain man, very wealthy, but as it afterwards appeared a great rogue, having been buried, after his death sallied forth (by the contrivance, as it is believed, of Satan) out of his grave by night, and was borne hither and thither, pursued by a pack of dogs with loud barkings; thus striking great terror into the neighbours, and returning to his tomb before daylight. After this had continued for several days, and no one dared to be found out of doors after dusk - for each dreaded an encounter with this deadly monster - the higher and middle classes of the people held a necessary investigation into what was requisite to he done; the more simple among them fearing, in the event of negligence, to be soundly beaten by this prodigy of the grave; but the wiser shrewdly concluding that were a remedy further delayed, the atmosphere, infected and corrupted by the constant whirlings through it of the pestiferous corpse, would engender disease and death t o a great extent; the necessity of providing against which was shown by frequent examples in similar cases. They, therefore, procured ten young men renowned for boldness, who were to dig up the horrible carcass, and, having cut it limb from limb, reduce it into food and fuel for the flames. When this was done, the commotion ceased. Moreover, it is stated that the monster, while it was being borne about (as it is said) by Satan, had told certain persons whom it had by chance encountered, that as long as it remained unburned the people should have no peace. Being burnt, tranquility appeared to be restored to them; but a pestilence, which arose in consequence, carried off the greater portion of them: for never did it so furiously rage elsewhere, though it was at that time general throughout

Is it just a folktale? What do you think?

Lake St. Clair Serpent

 

Lake St Clair Monster

 Lake St. Clair is part of the great lakes system. Lake St. Clair connects Lake Huron (to the north) with Lake Erie (to the south). It  has an average depth of  11 feet (3.4 metres) but  23 feet  (over 7 metres) at its deepest point. It is 27 feet (8.2 m) deep in the navigation channel which is dredged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The lake is fed by the St. Clair River. which flows to Lake Huron.

It is said to have a sea serpent resident there.

In August 23rd, 1897, a newspaper called the Essex Free Press wrote about a  monster being observed  in the lake.

"While Miss Ella Burdickand some friends were out fishing on Lake St. Clair, one evening last week at sundown, a dark peculiar looking object was seen coming up the lake. They rowed very close to the object and were able to get a good look at it. It appeared to have a head somewhat like a dog, with huge eyes protruding and tusk-like projections on each side of the head. Its body appeared to lie some seven or eight feet under water. Some fishermen also saw it and claimed it was some sort of sea serpent. It was certainly a very dangerous and horrible-looking object and was swimming at a very rapid rate."

Also  in 1897, some  fishermen left their horse on the lake side  and went fishing. A witness saw a creature drag the animal into the lake. The witness described  an eel-like sea serpent  to the local authorities.

Later in the same year, a creature was seen in the St. Clair Flats from a Riverside Hotel. The male observer   said that it moved at a "terrific rate of speed."

There have been no recent sightings. However both Lake Huron and Lake Erie are also said to have monsters resident. AS they are all connected could it be a family of creatures travel  between the lakes ?

Lake Huron has average depth of 195 ft ( 59 m), while the maximum recorded (by sonar) depth is  is 750 ft ( 229 m).. In 1975 a group of creatures were reported seen by the London Ontario Free Press on June 12th near Kincardine and another in the Goderich area in 1989.

Lake Erie is 241 miles long( approx 389kms) and 57 miles(approx 90kms) at its widest point.It is shallow compared to other great lakes but is said to be over 200 feet(over 65 metres) at its deepest.

The lake creature, now known as Bessie, was first reported in 1817 when the crew of a schooner reported seeing a large serpent like creature swimming in the lake. On July 8th, 1898, the Daily Register Newspaper, of Ohio reported that the lake monster was able to live on both land and in water and  was a fierce, ugly, coiling creature between 25(8 metres) and 30 feet long ( 10 metres)and at least 12 inches thick( .3 metres).

It became a bit of joke in 1912 when some hoaxers tried to pass off an exotic snake as the creature. Then more sightings began to be reported.

In 1960, Ken Golic was fishing off a pier in Sandusky when he heard what he thought were  rats. He decided to throw a couple of rocks at them but then when he got close he saw a cigar shaped creature.

In 1969, Jim Schindler was startled by a snake like creature came near South Bass Island. He said it appeared to be about 2 feet ( .6 metre)wide.

In September 1981, Theresa Kovach of Akron watched a snake like creature  from a house on the shore.She said  that "was so large that it could easily capsized a boat."

In 1983, Mary M. Landoll saw Bessie off Rye Beach in Huron. Mary was out to the front porch just before dawn when from the lake she heard a rowing sound and saw what looked like a capsized boat, but realised it was animate. It was a greenish-brown and about 50 feet (18metres) long .It had a long neck and an eye was visible on the side of the head .

In 1985,there were two reported sightings . Tony Schill of Avon, Ohio was boating with friends north of Vermilion when they saw a dark brown snake like creature with a flat tail. Tony stated that "five humps came out of the water. No way it was a sturgeon." .In 1985, Dale Munro of Lorain was also boating when he saw something strange. He stated that it had three humps and was black.

In 1989, Gail Kasner had a sonar reading,a graph, from a boat owned by Ken Smith of Streetsboro. It appeared to show cigar shape object about 35 feet (11 metres)in length at a depth of about 30 feet.(10 metres)

Then there were several sightings in 1990 including:

Susan Seeson, of Salem saw a  creature two miles from Cedar Point. In September , Bob Soracco was jet skiing when he saw something.. He told reporters that he saw humps with gray spots. "It was very long as I moved closer and it was going down.". In the same month, Harold Bricker and his family were fishing north of Cedar Point Amusement Park when a creature swam by their boat .They described it as being 35 feet (11 metres)long and having  a snake like head. It moved as fast as their boat. Also in  September  Fire inspectors, Jim Johnson and Steve Dircks of Huron, saw the creature from a window facing Lake Erie. They described it as  black at about 30 feet( 10 metres) long.

In September 1991, Dennis Szececinski,was fishing in the bay when something long and black slithered in front of him. Also in in 1991, George Repicz shot  some video footage which he claimed showed  Bessie.

In the summer of 1998, Leslee Rasgaitis reported seeing 3 black humps moving in the water of the shore of Huntington Beach, Ohio.

There are some more recent sightings I believe but the explanation given is that it is a sturgeon.

However it could be a large snake or serpent family of creatures  that travels between the lakes through the river system .What do you think?

Thunderbirds or Sea Eagles?

 

Thunderbirds in Scotland?

Farmer claims sea eagles snatched his five Shetland pony foals

A farmer from South Uist claims sea eagles are behind the disappearance of five Shetland pony foals from his hillside croft.

Donald John Cameron said they vanished without a trace over a nine-week period between May and July, and that he has often seen the birds of prey circling his animals.

Sea eagles, also known as white-tailed eagles, are known to attack livestock and farmers claim to have seen them carrying lambs away.

However, the National Centre for Birds of Prey believed it was "most unlikely" that sea eagles would be capable of flying off with a foal.

Scotland's nature agency NatureScot said that while there was "no direct evidence" the birds were responsible, they would be "analysing prey remains from sea eagle nests" on the island.

Source:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c7vlvlvyl5go

So if a sea eagle isn’t the culprit could it be a legendary thunderbird? Thunderbirds are believed to be prehistoric survivors  such as Pterosaurs, flying lizards .Some grew to huge sizes. There continues to be sightings to this day .See below for more information. Could thunderbirds still be around, what do you think?

https://cryptozoo-oscity.blogspot.com/2009/11/piasa-bird-legend-or-thunderbird.html

https://cryptozoo-oscity.blogspot.com/2011/10/more-thunderbird-sightings-reported.html

Film of Lake Monster in Okanagan Lake?

 Lake Okanagan in Canada is said to be the home of a water monster called Ogopogo The lake is approximately 120 kilometres long; 3.5 kilometres wide and is 235 metres at its deepest point. Indigenous people have legends about a monster in the lake. To the syilx, it’s n ̓x̌ax̌aitkʷ which means “the sacred spirit of the lake. To members of the Westbank First Nation, n ̓x̌ax̌aitkʷ and Ogopogo are two separate things.One is a spirit and one is an animal.

There used to be all one connecting lake, Okanagan and Skaha, and there are stories  of caverns that connect the two where a creature could live.

Sightings are reported of a creature 20 to 50 feet long, with a horse shaped head and an undulating serpent like body.The first recorded sighting was by John Allison in 1872.

In 2000 marathon swimmer, Daryl Ellis, reported being accompanied for a short distance during his swim by two large creatures as he passed Rattlesnake Island. He described them as one being 6 - 9 metres (20 - 30 feet) long and the second being smaller. They followed him for quite awhile and then disappeared. When he swam near Okanagan Lake floating bridge in Kelowna, a creature with a large eye the size of a grapefruit came within 9 metres to get a close look at him.

A south Okanagan man is convinced he’s captured the most conclusive piece of evidence yet of the legendary and elusive lake monster in the Okanagan known as the Ogopogo in june 2011.Jim La Rocque was enjoying his mother-in-law’s lakefront property with his two children in Kaleden, B.C. on June 1 when he says he noticed an inexplicable wake on Skaha Lake.The longtime Okanagan resident said he couldn’t believe his eyes.La Rocque believes he witnessed a giant, serpentine creature swimming across the lake with at least seven fins paddling in sync.He estimates it was at least 36 metres (120 feet) long.“I’d describe it as like a dragon boat race, like with oars, so if you flipped the dragon boat upside down, you would see all those oars coming out of the water,” he said.

This new sighting was reported in the press.

Possible Ogopogo sighting on Okanagan Lake, ahead of National Sea Serpent Day

As luck would have it, we received a note from a man named Stuart on Wednesday, Aug. 6 – the day before National Sea Serpent Day. Here's what Stuart wrote:

"I was sitting on my deck on a calm evening and saw the water start to swirl going south then suddenly turned to the north and something appeared on the water that I immediately captured with my phone!

"It seemed very large and long and then suddenly disappeared! I did snap a few photos and wish at the time I would have videoed. I have had a property above Lake Okanagan for 23 years and have never seen anything quite like this."

Stuart lives in Vernon at Canadian Lakeview Estates above Okanagan Lake.

Read rest and see film here:

https://www.vicnews.com/trending-now/possible-ogopogo-sighting-on-okanagan-lake-ahead-of-national-sea-serpent-day-8181041

It looks like a large snake and so far there hasn’t been a credible explanation put forward. Could it really be Ogopogo?  What do you think?

A French Dragon

 

The Niort Dragon

There are four bronze dragons in the main shopping street of Niort in France. Niort is also known as the Green Venice

They are based on the story of a dragon from  1692.

The city was terrorised by a giant snake with wings that devoured  women ,children and men  The dragon sat on Notre-Dame and drank water from the Sèvre Niortaise. No one dared to challenge  it. Then Jacques Allonneau, a convicted deserter, a soldier .who was condemned to death offered to fight the dragon in exchange for his freedom. Wearing a suit of armour, that included a glass visor, he was  armed with a long spear and dagger. He fatally stabbed the dragon in the throat.  When he lifted his visor in triumph the dragon spat venom at him with its dying breath. The soldier was mortally poisoned .

His tomb was located in the old cemetery of Notre Dame de Niort , but the cemetery was destroyed in 1792,

A Description of the tombstone was found:

The tomb was roof-shaped, from which two sculptures can be seen on the tombstone:

First side: a character representing a soldier wearing a short coat and  holding  a short sword on his chest.His head is covered with a helmet.The top of his head is decorated with a cross.

The Second side shows  a winged serpent a  Dragon

So was this really the tomb of a dragon slayer? We shall never know but the town celebrates the story as real.