Thursday 23 June 2022

The Screamer

 

DREKAVAC

Drekavac,literally "the screamer" or "the screecher " is a creature in South Slavic mythology. In Eastern Serbia it has been described as a dog like  creature that walks on its back legs.

In Arilje it is depicted in form of a long-necked ,long-legged creature with a cat-like head.

In Sredačka župa it is said to appear  in the form of a one-legged humanoid creature with glowing eyes that wanders around during night time and scares people.

In Gruža it has been described as a creature having an elongated , spindle-thin body with a  large head.

Between  1956-58 it was resported frequently as being heard and seen.Described as a cross between a dog and a kangaroo.

In the 1990s appeared at Bashaid and people left the area because of the noise it produced.

It was reported again in 2001 .There have been no other recent reports.

Could  it be an unknown species of animal? It is certainly a strange one.

 

 

The Waa Wee

 

The Waa Wee Bunyip

The bunyip is a  creature from Australia. It is said to live in watery places like swamps and rivers. . The bunyip is part of the Indigenous peoples  stories but it is called by several different names by different tribes. One of these is WaaWee. The name bunyip comes from the Wemba-Wemba tribe and translates as devil.

The word bunyip first appeared in the Sydney Gazette in 1812 James Ives  described it as  "a large black animal like a seal, with a terrible voice which creates terror “

In July 1845 a newspaper reported the finding of fossils that the local people said belonged to a buntyip.It was  described it as having a head like an emu and the body and legs of an alligator. It was both water dwelling and land dwelling and standing on its hind legs about 12 feet tall (4 metres )

In January of 1846 a skull was found in the Murrumbidgee River near Balranald. The skull was put on display in the Australian Museum in Sydney.

In 1851, a newspaper called The Australasian published a report about a Bunyip being speared after killing a man. The creature was eleven paces long and four paces in width. The Indigenous people used to visit the site  where the creature was slain,every year and outline its form, but those outlines have been lost over time.

William Buckley wrote in 1852 that in many of the lakes he had visited, there lived an "amphibious animal, which the natives call Bunyip". He wrote that he only ever saw the back of the animal.

The Waa Wee bunyip appeared in Midgeon Lagoon NSW in April 1872.Three witnesses heard a rushing sound of something swimming fast through the water.They watched for 30 minutes whilst a creature about  7 feet ( 2 metres) long with glossy black hair disported itself in the water before submerging.

Some  believe the Bunyip is a prehistoric marsupial, the Diprotodon australis, which was thought to be extinct 46,000 years ago.  Others think it is a seal or a southern cassowary bird. Hopefully more recent sightings may be reported.

 

 

Saturday 18 June 2022

A View of Lake Baikal


Siberia's Lake Baikal is 49 miles (78.8 kilometers) wide and 395 miles (635 kilometers) long, it's the world's largest freshwater lake.It  dates back 25 million years. Lake Baikal is home to more than 3,700 different species, many of the which are only found in the Baikal region. Its unique biodiversity and its array of hydrothermal vents are normally only  found in oceans. Gigantism( larger than normal lake creatures) in the lake is thought to be due to high levels of dissolved oxygen in the water. 

If you have ever wanted to know what its like see this video:


https://www.adventure-journal.com/2022/06/lake-baikal-really-doesnt-feel-like-its-part-of-this-world/


However there is said to be a large creature living in the lake. What will it make of the telescope?The local  Buryats call the monster “Lusud Khan” - “The Master Water Dragon” Fishermen state that they have seen a huge, black creature visible through the clear water of the lake.The creature looks like a giant sturgeon with a huge snout and an armored fin along its entire giant back.There is a large stone located on the bank of Yenisei, it has an image of a huge lizard with a forked tongue, big claws and plate armour along its back. Some say it resembles an ancient crocodile or ichthyosaur.

In the early 1900s a merchant bringing cattle to the Olkhon Island across the Mukhorsky Bay by boat ,lost a  horse as it  fell overboard into the water. All attempts to  save it failed. A few minutes later people saw blood-stains in the water  and its head floated to  the surface.

People have been said to have disappeared .The Local residents  have always considered the territory of the Mukhorsky Bay to be sacred land .An annual ceremony of offering sacrifices has been held there since ancient times: meat and fish were placed rafts and  released into the water.One presumes for the monster. They say the monster swims to the surface at night, and makes  a kind of “gurgling” harsh sound.Cattle going down to drink often disappear.

A ship’s crew was said to have heard hissing and gurgling.. The lake was calm, but the ship suddenly began to sway back and forth. There was an impression that something had  swum under the bottom of the vessel and scratched its back on it.

In the late 1980s a survey of the lake bottom involving echolocation equipment was carried out. The devices recorded a moving object with a length more than 30 metres (90 feet), but the research was not continued.


Monday 6 June 2022

Three Lochs,one monster?

 

 Loch Assynt

 Loch Assynt is a few miles  inland from the  west coast of the Scottish Highlands in Sutherland. The loch is 9.65 kilometres (6 miles) long and has a maximum depth of 82 metres (280 feet approx). It  is surrounded by mountains and is a freshwater loch. It receives the outflow from Loch Awe,

In 1837 two fishermen claimed to see a strange creature ,not once but twice, once in the water and once on small island in the loch. They reported it as being  about 3 feet tall( 1 metre approx)), with a broad back, bull-dog type head, grey coloured  and hairy .

It sounds like a seal but unusual in an inland loch.

There is also the legend surrounding the ruins of  a castle on the shore of the loch. The story tells of the laird  MacLeod's lost daughter, Eimhir. She flung herself from the castle walls on hearing her father had promised her to the devil as his bride. Instead of jumping to her death, it is  believed Eimhir plunged into the caverns of the loch and became  the mermaid of Assynt .Some  claim to have sighted her weeping on the rocks, her body now transformed into half woman, half sea creature.

Lochan Feith an Leothaid

Lochan Feith an Leothaid is a small  loch in the Scottish Highlands, which  is only a few thousand feet south of Loch Assynt.It takes about an hour and a half to walk from one loch to the other

In 1930, Kenneth MacKenzie described seeing a strange creature with a deer-like head surface close to his boat on Lochan Feith an Leothaid, before diving back under water.People remembered the creature seen many years before in Loch Assynt and wondered if it was the same creature.

Loch Awe

Loch Awe is a large fresh water loch in Western Scotland  with a length of 35km and total surface area of 14.9 miles .It is known for being a good fishing loch, with large trout being caught regularly. There is a  legend about its creation which concerns the holy well on Ben Cruachan. The well had to  be capped by a large stone every day after use. . One day the attendant was too tired to replace the stone and  fell asleep. When she woke up (apparently  three days later )she found that the well had flooded the valley below and created Loch Awe.

There have been stories of a creature in the Loch going back hundreds of years. The creature is said to come ashore during winter and can be heard growling and panting. 

One of the few written accounts of this creature was written by Timothy Pont, who chronicled what he called “gigantic eels” in the Loch. He said he himself was frightened to fish in the Loch because of the large eels and they also frightened fishermen away from the loch. They were  described these eels as being the girth of a horse and reaching huge lengths, such as 33 feet (11metres). The description sounds very much like the horse eels of Ireland.

Further up the Western coast on the Islands this report was printed in The  London Times  March 6, 1856:

The Sea Serpent in the Highlands

The village of Leurbost, Parish of Lochs, Lewis, is at present the scene of an unusual occurrence.  This is no less than the appearance in one of the inland fresh-water lakes of an animal which from its great size and dimensions has not a little puzzled our island naturalists.  Some suppose him to be a description of the hitherto mythological water-kelpie; while others refer it to the minute descriptions of the "sea-serpent," which are revived from time to time in the newspaper columns.  It has been repeatedly seen within the last fortnight by crowds of people, many of whom have come from the remotest parts of the parish to witness the uncommon spectacle.  The animal is described by some as being in appearance and size like "a large peat stack," while others affirm that a "six-oared boat" could pass between the huge fins, which are occasionally visible.  All, however, agree in describing its form as that of an eel; and we have heard one, whose evidence we can rely upon, state that in length he supposed it to be about 40 feet.  It is probable that it is no more than a conger eel after all, animals of this description having been caught in the Highland lakes which have attained huge size.  He is currently reported to have swallowed a blanket inadvertently left on the bank by a girl herding cattle.  A sportsman ensconced himself with a rifle in the vicinity of the loch during a whole day, hoping to get a shot, but did no execution.

 

Could one creature,a large eel ,or its descendants be responsible for the sightings? Loach Awe runs in to Loch Assynt and Loch Assynt is within walking or slithering distance of Lochan Feith an Leothaid.What do you think?