might interest Big foot hunters

Big foot hunters have long said that Bigfoot makes a noise , some say whistling. Well if it is a primate ,they could be right. The first whistling ape has been discovered. see link .


http://news.uk.msn.com/odd-news/article.aspx?cp-documentid=14641608&ocid=today

another researcher

Seems I am not the only one researching monster hunters. I emailed Brian Regal.What a nice chap and very helpful. Worth a look!

The Importance of Monster Hunters article by Brian Regal, Kean University

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/interviews/interview/967/

Possibly another giant snake?

Lake Ngozi is about 15km southeast Mbeya city and lies in a mountain valley . The lake measures 2.5 km long and 1.6 km wide and is on the eastern section of the Mporoto Ridge Forest Reserve. Recognised as the second largest crater lake in Africa, it is considered a place of mystery and magic, by the people that live in the surrounding area, among them the Nyakyusa, the Safwa and the Kinga. The Nyakyusa say there are monsters and poisonous gases in the lake. The lake was said to have been formed by a magician named Lwembe (“razor”), who was chased out of his birth village of Ukwama in Makete district because people in his village were tired of his dirty tricks. He fled to Rungwe district, where he continued dabbling in magic and created a magic lake into which cows disappeared whenever they grazed nearby. The legend has it that people who went too near the lake also disappeared.After losing several cattle the Nyakyusa elders decided to do something about the lake.Then found a big rock, which they heated for three days over an intense fire and rolled it into the lake, casting a spell as they did it; thereupon they were free of its menace.

Another legend in the area is that the lake is home to a giant serpent-like monster who comes out only on sunny days. But the Safwa believe the lake has existed since time immemorial. Science however , shows that Lake Ngozi was formed after a volcanic eruption more than 40,000 years ago. Its waters have been undergoing changes in colour, depending on the prevailing atmospheric condition of the day.To help understand the formation of the lake, an international scientific team from Tanzania, France, Belgium and the UK have started exploring and coring the bottom sediment of Lake Ngozi . The team of scientists aims to document climate, volcanism, natural resources and human activities in the Rungwe province and Mbeya region.

Will they find the giant snake? Will be watching with interest.

Giant Fresh water fish

British biologist Ian Welch has captured the largest freshwater fish ever caught with a rod: a nearly 800-pound stingray found in the Maeklong River in Thailand as part of a giant freshwater stingray tagging program. The stingray is 7 feet long, 7 feet wide, and had a sting measuring 10 feet. It took Welch an hour and a half to reel the fish in and 13 adult men to pull it from the water. "It dragged me across the boat and would have pulled me in had my colleague not grabbed my trousers -- it was like the whole earth had just moved. I knew it was going to a big one," Welch said of the battle with the stingray. After the struggle to pull it into the boat, he explained, "...there was just silence because everyone was just in awe of this thing. That line from the film Jaws came to mind about needing a bigger boat because we had to get it to the shore to tag it." The team finally managed to get the stingray to shore by pulling it behind the boat in a 12-foot-wide net. The stingray, which turned out to be a pregnant female, was tagged and a DNA sample was taken before it was released. Giant freshwater stingrays are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's "red list," meaning they're considered vulnerable for extinction. Telegraph
Maybe lake monsters are not such an elusive thing after all. I wonder how many other giant fish or turtles have been seen and put down to lake monsters. Certainly one lake in China contains large turtles. see this from 2007:
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90782/91341/6215322.html#
Who knows a lake cryptid may be caught yet!

Giant Snake?

There has been a lot of controversy over the giant snake supposedly photographed in Borneo.
see:
http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=are-the-photos-of-borneos-monster-s-2009-02-20
and www.anomalist.com
The photo appears to be a fake and even though published recently the photos had been seen before on 2007.
www. cryptomundo.com has the details.

Giant snakes are not unknown. Anacondas have been reported at 30 feet long. Fossils of a huge snake were discovered fairly recently.Unfortunately it is easier to disbelieve than believe. Giant snakes are the thing we expect in Victorian adventure stories or horror movies. Much as we would love to believe this ,it is according to the photo shop experts a fake.

two pieces of news

The helicopter that went down over the North Sea was said to have hit something in the fog.
What could be that large to down a Helicopter? Theory is a British Thunderbird . Not so sure myself. Maybe that was a story to cover up human error in the fog.

http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/article.aspx?cp-documentid=14426444




A credible big cat sighting. Now this is more like it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/7902259.stm
It is quite possible that big cats have escaped from private zoos and collections and survived in the wild.Native British wildcats are found in Scotland but are quite small and shy.The largest even recorded was about 4 feet long. They are about 50% bigger than your average tabby cat and similar in appearance.Most Big Cat sightings are Puma like and not like the tabby wild cat above.

Yes it's a hoax people

Further to the Yeti seen and being investigated in Siberia, it is apparently either bears or circus performers or drop outs.
See full story here.

http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/yeti-mistake/

There may be further developments. The expedition sent there will I presume make a report.
Of course if you a conspiracy theory fan......Have they really discovered Yeti and are covering it up?
;-)

The Long Life of Nessie?

Most people think that the Loch Ness creature was first seen in 1933 with the building of the new road. As you can see from the list below there have been sightings since 1527.

565 1527	St Colomba Duncan Campbell said he saw 3 men killed	Beastie in Loch (possibly River Ness not Loch) Terrible beast in the loch
1600 and 1700s	Many reports ,no details, may have been soldiers stationed near the loch. There was a warship moored on the loch supplying troops at this time.	Floating islands reported but there are no mats of vegetation in the loch.
1771	Reported sighting no details	Great beastie (N.B. there is no documentary proof to support these earlier sightings only reports written many years after it happened)
1871	Dr Mackenzie reported to police	Log like, then upturned boat
1879	Children reported to police	Elephant coloured creature small head on long neck turned head side to side .waddled(on land)
1880	E.H. Bright and cousin	Long neck dark grey. emerged from wooded area and left a wash where it entered water(on land)
1885	Roderick Matheson to police	Forward moving in loch. Biggest thing he ever saw with horse like head.
1888	Alex MacDonald	Early morning in loch described as salamander like
1889	Not known	Strange creature in loch
1890,s	Gypsy lady	Unknown except strange creature in loch
1895	6 or 8 people including a forester, a ghillie, anglers and hotel keeper	Reported to police a horrible great beastie in the loch
1898 1889	McKenzie No details only several people reported to police	It appeared in the loch at times and then it seemed to go away A beastie in the loch
1903	F.Fraser and 2 others	Hump in water like upturned boat tried to row closer but couldn’t get a close look
1908	John Macleod	Long tail eel like head 30-40ft lying on the surface of the water, quickly moved off Inchnacardoch bay
1912	5 Or 6 children including William MacGruer	Queer looking animal moved to the loch and vanished in the water. Described as camel like with long neck and humped back .(land )
1919	Mrs P. Cameron and 2 brothers	Small head like a camel long neck humped back 4 limbs
1923	1)William miller and D. McGillray 2)Alfred Cruickshank	1)Like an upturned boat about 10-12 feet showing, moved off in an arc and submerged 2)at night on land. about 20 to 25 feet long arched back with 4 legs and lighter underbelly skin elephant like(on land)
1929	Mrs Cumming and D Gillvray	Motionless sank with a splash. hump size of a horses body
1930s	Several sightings Including 3 young men in a boat, Ian J Milne, Alec Muir and several school children Exact dates not recorded	Described as 2 or 3 small humps, moved in an arc One on land sighting which left a visible trail of squashed moss
1932	James Cameron	Hump like upturned boat

A creature has been seen in the Loch for centuries. As it surely can’t be the same creature ,there must have been a breeding family to continue to be seen over the years. The argument has always been that the Loch doesn’t connect to the sea and therefore no large creatures could have come that way to breed. There is new evidence to say that this isn’t true.

British and U.S. scientists claim they have evidence that the sea extended into Loch Ness at two points in history: after the Ice Age in Europe (125,000 years ago) and 12,800 years ago. A geologist working with a research team in 2001 noticed the clay on the anchor of their boat looked different from other deposits found in the same part of the Loch. Carbon
dating and amino-acid testing on the clay indicated that it contained clams
and sea urchin spines from both 12,800 and 125,000 years ago. This discovery would tend to lend credence to the theory that large animals could have become trapped in the Loch as the water receded back to the sea. Source: The Press and Journal (North Scotland) .

Food for thought indeed.

Daily Star says Yeti is real!!

The item below appeared in the Daily Star.

New Search for Ginger Minger Yeti!
by Will Stewart

A family of Yetis is being tracked by hunters after reports that the creatures are living in a mountain cave complex.

The animals are said to be more than 6ft tall with ginger-black hair and leave large, distinctive footprints that include toe marks.

Sightings have been made near the remote Russian mining town of Tashtagol in Siberia.

Galina Pustogacheva, spokesman for the town, said: “There have been reports over the years about these creatures, but the number has increased dramatically.

“We have had more than 10 sightings in recent weeks.”

The creatures have been seen walking on two legs by villagers from the hamlets of Elbeza and Kabarza and tourists visiting the region around the Azass caves on Mount Shoriya.

Sightings have worried locals and forced officials to launch an expedition, led by hunters and anthropologists.

“People here are scared the creatures will attack villages because of hunger,” said Nikita Shulbayev, deputy head of the local administration.

“We made a decision to send an expedition to research this issue.

“We need to understand whether they are dangerous for people. We need to calm people down.

“Scientists from Kemerovo University will help us discover what the creatures are – whether they are a rare kind of bear or a surviving primate from pre-historic times.”

No photographs have been taken of the beasts. “No-one can get close enough,” said a hunter.

But one witness said: “The creature reminds me of a bear. In his footprints one can clearly see toes.

“He is 1.5 to two metres high. He is covered with red and black hair and can climb trees.

The University was founded in 1974 so that bit is genuine.We wait to hear more. The what if is too exciting to think about.It is more likely to be another hoax or a family of apes escaped from some where.

Here be monsters...or are they?

A browse through the university special collections found some monster stories.

A relation of a terrible monster taken by a fisherman neere Wollage, July the 15. 1642. and is now to be seen in Kings street, Westminster. The shape whereof is like a toad, and may be called a toad-fish, but that which makes it a monster, is, that it hath hands with fingers like a man, and is chested like a man. Being neere five foot long, and three foot over, the thicknesse of an ordinary man. The following discourse will describe him more particularly. Whereunto is added, a relation of a bloudy encounter betwixt the Lord Faulconbridge and Sir John Hotham, wherein the Duke of Richmond is hurt, and the Lord Faulconbridge taken prisoner. With some other misselanies of memory both by sea and land, with some forreigne occurrences. [electronic resource] : Imprint London : Printed for Nath. Butter, 1642.

This sounds to me like some sort of seal or walrus . Others may have some idea. In 1642 I don’t suppose they had much idea about marine creatures .The tale below is obvious to us what it is.

A true and perfect account of the miraculous sea-monster, or, Wonderful fish lately taken in Ireland bigger than ox, yet without legs, bones, fins, or scales, with two heads, and ten horns of 10 or 11 foot long, on eight of which horns there grew knobs about the bigness of a cloak-button, in shape like crowns or coronets, to the number of 100 on each horn, which were all to open, and had rows of teeth within them ... : together with the manner how it first appeared and was taken at a place called Dingel Ichough ... / [electronic resource] : faithfully communicated by an eye witness. Imprint [London?] : Printed for P. Brooksby and W. Whitwood, 1674.

It’s a squid or octopus of course. It got me thinking though about what other mis- identified animals could be reported as cryptids.It is easy to see a monster when you are not familiar with it’s appearance.