Monster or Monstrous Fish?

Lake monster or monstrous fish

An article caught my eye about a very large fish caught in Missouri.

Extract:

Indeed, the biggest Missouri game fish of any species came out of Table Rock Lake in 2015, when Andy Belobraydic snagged a 140-pound, 9-ounce monster that took him half an hour to reel in.Belobraydic said the record paddlefish was nearly 6 feet long and measured almost 4 feet around its belly.

Despite its size, there are quite possibly are even bigger fish cruising Missouri waters, according to Andrew Branson, Fisheries Program specialist with Missouri Department of Conservation.

He said there are only five species of native Missouri fish that can grow to weigh 100 pounds or more. It's possible any of these species could eclipse Belobraydic's huge paddlefish to become the biggest fish ever caught in Missouri.

• Paddlefish: The largest official record nationwide is a 144-pound fish from Kansas. (There's an anecdotal report of a 198-pound fish in Iowa.)
• Alligator gar: The world record is 279 pounds. (Anecdotal reports suggest they can grow up to 10 feet in length and weigh as much as 350 pounds.)
• Lake sturgeon: The largest official record is a 240-pound fish from Wisconsin.
• Flathead catfish: The world record is 123 pounds. (There are reports of another fish weighing 139 pounds, 14 ounces.)
• Blue catfish: The world record is 143 pounds. (There are anecdotal reports of fish up to 150 pounds or more.)

"It’s quite possible that fish larger than state and world records have been caught but just not officially recorded," Branson said.

Read full story here :

https://eu.news-leader.com/story/news/local/ozarks/2019/03/21/paddlefish-season-types-missouri-fish-over-hundred-pounds/3236839002/

There is a legend of  a river  monster in the  Missouri River.

The Dakota nation have a legend about  a Missouri River monster of terrifying appearance called Miniwashitu . Melvin Randolph Gilmore wrote about Miniwashitu in 1921.

“It is said that in the long ago there was a mysterious being within the stream of the Missouri River. It was seldom seen by human beings, and was most dreadful to see. It is said that sometimes it was seen within the water in the middle of the stream, causing a redness shining like the redness of fire as it passed up the stream against the current with a terrific roaring sound. And they say that if this dreadful being was seen by anyone in the daytime anyone who thus saw it soon after became crazy and continued restless and writhing as though in pain until he was relieved by death. And it is said that one time not a very great many years ago this frightful being was seen by a man, and he told how it appeared. He said that it was of strange form and covered all over with hair like a buffalo, but red in color; that it had only one eye in the middle of its forehead, and above that a single horn. Its backbone stood out notched and jagged like an enormous saw. As soon as the man beheld the awful sight everything became dark to him, he said. He was just able to reach home, but he lost his reason and soon after that he died.”

The story goes that it is still in the river. Could this monster be in fact one of the large species of fish ?It could be an Alligator Gar or a Sturgeon both  rather prehistoric looking  and enough to scare anyone not familiar with their appearance .When shocked it is easy to miss attribute aspects to an animal or fish that don’t exist such as a horn .Also eye witness testimony being unreliable it could just be the story got embellished in the telling. There are certainly monsters in the river ,monstrous fish .

The Sisimite,a type of Bigfoot?

The Sisimite is a Bigfoot/ Yeti type creature reported to live in the Mountains of Central America and Guatemala. The creature is also cited in the folklore of Belize, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua The name varies by region , the original name is said to be Tzitzimilt which became in Spanish sisimite, and is also written as Sisimito, Sisemite, cicimite, sisimique and even sometimes called Dontos. ( though that may be a mistake on the reports as Dantas is the local name for a Tapir I believe) .What is interesting is that that some places in Guatemala and Honduras have the name "El Sisimite”.

The creature is  said to be 6 feet (2 metres) to 8 feet( 2. 6 metres) tall ,ape like and walks with a bipedal gait of long strides. It’s fur/hair is described as shaggy and long ,black or dark brown and that it sweeps the ground as the creature walks .It is  much larger than an average person, four fingers on each hand but no thumbs and  ape-like facial features The Sisemite’s vocalisation is reported to be very loud and piercing and to be heard for miles around the mountains . It is said to be very strong  capable of breaking bones in one blow.

The Honduran explorer and historian, Jesús Aguilar Paz (1895-1974), said that the Sisimite lives in the highest part of the  mountains,in the caverns found there. Aguilar also said  that the Sisimite feeds on the berries and nuts  from the mountains and that it is not  a meat eater. Other stories say it eats human flesh.In Chorti folklore, the sisemite is a rapist who abducts human women.(Similarities here with Bigfoot, said to abduct humans)

In Guatemala the Sisemite is described as an ape with human-like face, but so big that he could "cross the Motagua river just walking" It is also said to have glowing eyes and big backwards feet . ( Some monkeys can rotate their feet so not quite as far fetched as it sounds).

Then there is this story:

Four men went out into the bush. It was right here [in Belize] along the Guatemalan border. They knew it was a dangerous place, so they took plenty of guns. On the first night they made camp and went to sleep. Sometime between midnight and one o’clock they were awakened by a rustling sound in the bush. What they saw looked like a man covered with hair from head to foot. It was the guardian of the forest, the one they call the Sisimite. Without saying a word (they say it cannot speak), it went straight to one of the men, grabbed him and tore him to pieces. What a horrible animal! The other three grabbed their shotguns and shot the creature, but it didn’t hurt him because his hair was so thick that the bullets couldn’t penetrate it.

Then, one of the men got an idea. He exclaimed, “The only thing that will work against this animal is fire!” So they found some dried palm leaves, made a pile with them, and set them on fire. When the Sisimite saw the fire, he took off running with the dead man firmly in his grip.

The three survivors went to town to file a report with the authorities. The chief of police asked them, “Well, what happened?”

One of the men answered, “It was a horrible animal, the one they call Sisimite. It killed our friend and took his body into the forest.”

So, they gathered up a large group of men to hunt it down. The trail of blood was easy to follow. It led them to a rocky area, and they saw where the Sisimite had entered the cave. The townspeople were so afraid that no one dared to go in after it. Instead, they threw several sticks of dynamite into the cave. The explosion was so strong that the entire hillside crumbled. They never found the dead man’s body or that of the Sisimite, but from the force of the explosion, they were certain that it must have died.

From the Hagerty collection. Narrated by a 54-year-old man from Benque Viejo Town, Cayo District, 1978.

Story of encounter from Panama:http://www.bigfootencounters.com/creatures/darien.htm

The similarities between stories of bigfoot, yeti and the SisiTheSmite could mean a genus of large ape or a possible human /ape hybrid either still lives or once lived in remote places. Nearly all the places where these creatures are reported are wilderness or mountains and not very accessible nor habitable for humans. Maybe they retreated up there after the ice age or maybe folklore is just similar all over the world and it is just a story. But stories have to starts somewhere and even if they don’t exist now, they may have done in the past and the stories of encounters have been passed on through oral history. There is often some truth in old stories I have found and if these creatures are no longer with us, someone may find a fossil or remains to verify they existed. 

ALLIER RIVER MONSTER

The River Allier in France is  known for fishing as there are good stocks of many types of fish. In addition to trout and grayling  there are  plenty of pike, zander and perch .Beyond the river, there are lakes dotted all over the region, many of which are home to huge carp, along with pike and even black bass.

In the early 1930’s there were stories of a monster in the river ,described as monstrous and likened to Cerberus. It was black with three heads and horrifying  but little else is known about it.

There are many authenticated reports of two headed and three headed eels and snakes in modern times so it is possible that such a creature could have existed. It may not have lived long due to its mutation  hence no further reports have been forthcoming. I suspect  it could have been a mutated very large eel as they can grow to a large size. Or of course it could have  been a cryptid!

The Beast of Morbach

Morbach is a municipality in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.  The terrain is one of rolling hills with  stretches of forest interspersed with farmland. Near Morbach is Baldenau Castle,the only moated castle in Hunsrück —built around 1320 by Balduin of Luxemburg. There is an airforce base near the village of Wittlich.The area is said to be the home of a monster.

Thomas Johannes Baptist Schwytzer, a deserter from Napoleon’s Army  is fleeing to his homeland in Alsace. With him are a group of Russians, also deserters. While passing by the village of Wittlich, the hungry soldiers spy a farmhouse and decide to take what they want. In the midst of their scavenging they are discovered by the farmer, whom they  murder along with his sons. The farmer's wife, seeing this  lets out a wail and curses Schwitzer. "From now on at each full moon you will change into a rabid wolf!" .Schwytzer kills her but the curse works. Gradually a change comes over Schwytzer. Then the tales of a wolf that walks like a man  spread throughout the countryside and no beast or person was safe. Many were killed..According to the legend they moved the town since they could not get rid of the werewolf menace. There is a shrine outside of the new town where a candle burns to keep the werewolf from coming to the new village. If it goes out the werewolf will return. A munitions site stands where the old village was.

Men stationed at the Hahn airforce base told a story that happened in 1988.  A group of men were on the way to their posts  at the munitions site.when they noticed that the candle was out at the shrine .They  joked about the monster and carried on their way.Later that night the alarms at the perimeter fence went off. When security went to  investigate  one of them saw a huge "dog-like" animal stand up on its back legs, looking  at him. A military guard  dog was brought to the where the creature was last seen. The dog refused to go any further or follow the trail. There were more reports in 1992 and dead deer  and rips in the fence were found.

Various theories have been put forward for the beast. Wild boar are known in the area and are quite fierce but do not normally stand up right. A wolf or wild dog is a possibility. A soldier from WW 2 is said to live in the woods ,like a Wildman ,and still thinks he is at war.Or is there really a werewolf in Morbach forest ?

Hudson River Monster?

The Hudson river is in  New York state and stretches 315 miles to the Atlantic ocean. At its deepest point it is 200 feet deep. It is said there  have been sightings of a monster since 1610. It has been named  Kipsy.

The New York Times published a story on  June 9^th 1899

SHARK OR SEA SERPENT?; Bathers in the Hudson River Startled by a Monster That Chased Them from the Water.“It concerns what by some is described as a shark, and by others as a sea serpent, which in some way or other and for reasons best known to itself made is appearance in the Hudson River yesterday morning about 7 o'clock at a point just off Weehawken, N.J.”

Then in 2006 the New York Times reported on another large beast in the river.

“Added to the chronicles of great beasts that have descended upon New York City in the year 2006 is one that is arguably the greatest of them all. A beast, upwards of 1,000 pounds and a cousin to the elephant, which dwarfs the coyote, the deer and the dolphin that preceded it. A beast that, at hundreds of miles north of its natural habitat, has most likely made the longest and most arduous journey among them. A beast, with a pudgy-nosed face and sweet-potato-shaped body, that could even be considered cute: a manatee.”

However a Manatee does not look like a sea serpent or a shark. Some other sightings of a creature  were reported in 2008.This recent article offers another option for the monster.

“The sonar revealed a sturgeon roughly twice as long as anything seen that day—confidently estimated at just over 14 feet from nose to tail tip. That’s a size that, even decades ago, even a century ago, was considered a rarity. But now, it was unimaginable given what this species had endured.“When I first saw it, I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’” Madsen recalled. But there was no mistaking the image. He and his colleague, Dewayne A. Foxof Delaware State University, have extensively used this sonar system in sturgeon habitat elsewhere along the Atlantic Coast and in the Republic of Georgia.Biologists estimate a sturgeon that length could easily weigh 800 pounds.The species is listed federally as endangered in the New York region and three others and threatened in the Gulf of Maine. Sturgeon have been known to leap from the water on occasion, he said, “but it’s not like spotting the humpback whale that was in the lower Hudson a few years ago. They surface every few minutes.”

Read full article here: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/03/14-foot-atlantic-sturgeon-fish-hudson-river-endangered-species/

So could the infrequent visits of  a large  endangered Sturgeon be Kipsy ? Or is Kipsy something completely different?

A real vampire in New Orleans?

New Orleans is known for spookiness ,witches ,vampires and the werewolf legends.But did a real vampire live in there?

He was known as Count de Saint-Germain, Comte St Germain, and even Count of Rákóczi. The first heard of him was as an aristocrat who appeared in the court of Louis XV. Known as

Comte d’ Saint Germain, he entertained the court  with stories of his adventurous life . The Count Germain was said to be an alchemist who  was  in possession of the “elixir of life.” He  was supposedly more than 6,000 years old. The next  heard of  Saint-Germain was in  Germany where he reportedly died. However, he was also regularly reported as being seen alive and well.

Then  in 1904, a man exactly matching his physical description,  an attractive Frenchman  called Jacques Saint Germain arrived in New Orleans. He claimed to be a descendant of  the original Comte Germain. He bought  a large house on the corner of Royal and Ursuline Streets and was quite a  ladies man,frequently seen in the company of many different women.

The house was a place of elaborate parties and much feasting  but Germain himself was never seen to eat or drink. One night in December, ear-piercing screams were heard coming from the house. A woman had jumped out of a second-story window  to escape. Passersby rushed to her aid. She told the police that Jacques had dragged a knife across her skin and tried to drink her blood. She died after being admitted to the local Charity Hospital.It was presumed she was a prostitute. When police officers went to question Germain, he had already left. He left  behind blood-stained floors, wine bottles and glasses filled with blood and no trace of food for his own consumption. He never returned.

Since that night, the house has remained unoccupied. However, the property remains in the possession of a private owner who pays the taxes. There does not seem to be a name or contact information affiliated with the property on public record . The house remains locked and never seems to have burglars . Even today, people talk about  seeing Saint Germain around the city.

Do you believe in vampires? Was he real? Certainly the story has inspired  many works of fiction.