that time of year

I wish you all a very merry christmas . thank you for reading the blog. I hope 2014 brings you all lots of adventures and monster chasing xx

Ho Ho Ho the cry of which cryptid?

Do you believe in the cryptid Father Christmas ?

You may laugh but think about the similarities between Santa and documented  cryptids.

Cryptids tend to be seen in places with difficult terrain where they cannot easily be tracked or seen. -Santa lives in an icy wasteland.

Santa disappears and reappears. There are stories about bigfoot disappearing before people’s eyes and many cryptids are only spotted at certain times of the year when conditions are right .

Santa flies through the air on a sled with flying reindeer. There are many flying cryptids from thunderbirds to mothman.

Then there are his little helpers –the elves. They could be a descendant or offshoot of the Hobbit skeletons that were found in recent years.

He leaves gifts. There are old stories of wildmen who left food for the starving on their doorsteps.

Santa is rather hairy according to many depictions with flowing beard and locks. Ditto are many cryptids.

He has a distinctive cry-Ho Ho Ho. So do many cryptids including a species of giant bat that is said to make a similar noise.

Santa only exists in folklore stories, so do many crytids until people start to hunt for them. Nearly all cryptids from the Loch Ness Monster to the Yeti are first discovered in old stories when one looks back at the time line.

So Is Santa Claus a cryptid? Probably not as there is no eye witness testimony to back up his appearances that I am aware of (that does not include your parent in a red dressing gown and Santa hat and fake beard leaving presents at the bottom of the bed) but next time someone scoffs at your belief in cryptids, remind them they believed in Father Christmas once so don’t knock belief in the unknown.

vampire trail

Bulgaria: Staking out a vampire tourist trail

Two towns in Bulgaria and Romania are planning to boost their tourist appeal by capitalising on their "vampire" past, it seems.Bulgaria's ancient city of Sozopol on the Black Sea coast is teaming up with medieval Sighisoara in Romania, the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler, the ruler thought to have inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula. Last year, archaeologists in Sozopol found the 700-year-old skeleton of a man with an iron spike through his chest. The old pagan ritual was meant to prevent "bad" dead people from rising from their graves.Sozopol's mayor, Panayot Reyzi, saw an opportunity to attract more tourists by twinning his city with Sighisoara. "Both Dracula and our vampire had a limp and could've been cousins," he tells the Flagman news website. Recently he announced the two towns had agreed to create a "vampire trail". Tourists visiting Dracula's house in Sighisoara would also be encouraged to go to neighbouring Bulgaria to see the "Sozopol vampire", explains Focus News. 

Read rest here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-25449915

Mystery early human discovered

Mystery early human revealed by DNA data

DNA analysis of early human remains from a Siberian cave has revealed the existence of a mystery human species. A team of researchers speculates that this could have been Homo erectus, which lived in Europe and Asia a million years ago or more. Meanwhile, the researchers report that they have also obtained the most complete DNA sequence ever from a Neanderthal. Details of the work appear in Nature journal. Finds at Denisova cave in Siberia have deepened our understanding of the human groups living in Eurasia before modern humans (Homo sapiens) arrived on the scene.

Read rest here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25423498

Bigfoot’s ancestors maybe?

sad news about Roy Mackal

I was very sad to read about the death of Roy P Mackal.It was not reported in the media and was discovered by Loren Coleman whose item  is linked below. I met Roy twice at Loch Ness and had some correspondence with him over the years. The last time was a couple of years ago and he said if I wished to use any of his material in my books it was fine by him. I can't believe his passing wasn't more widely written about. Thank you Loren Coleman for the article below. RIP Roy Mackal. I hope you find those mystery creatures whereever you are x

http://www.cryptozoonews.com/mackal-obit/

alien creature a hoax and earth life on Mars

The 'alien jellyfish' WAS a hoax! Glowing creature in Bristol harbour turns out to be publicity stunt for a TV programme

    Videos of light appeared on YouTube with many claiming it to be an 'alien'

    Biologists suggested it may be a marine salp which has drifted off course  But it turns out the 'alien' creature was placed in the harbour to promote a new TV programme about magic that will air on Watch

by Ellie Zolfagharifard and Sarah Griffiths

read rest here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2519475/The-alien-jellyfish-WAS-hoax-Glowing-creature-Bristol-harbour-turns-publicity-stunt-TV-programme.html

Dinosaur asteroid 'sent life to Mars'

By James Morgan Science reporter, BBC News

Read rest here :http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25201572

review of some champ sightings

Champ,the Lake Champlain creature

 I thought I would review past sightings.

There have been about 300 reported sightings of Champ over the years. The creature was depicted by Native Americans and Samuel de Champlain allegedly saw Champ in 1609. He claimed that he spotted a strange monster, some historians say it was in the St. Lawrence estuary however. Lake Champlain traverses New York, Vermont and Quebec and is 109 miles long and about 400 feet(approx  133 meters) deep. It was created about 10000 years ago, about the same time as Loch Ness. Most of the sightings describe the creature with a "long sinuous neck" and a body with one or more humps, 15 (5 meters)to 25 feet( 8 meters) long, and dark in colour.

Recorded sightings include:
1819 Port Henry, NY, a railroad crew reported to have spotted a “head of an enormous serpent sticking out of the water and approaching them from the opposite shore.” Around the time of this sighting, farmers nearby claimed to have missing livestock, with drag marks leading to the shore.

In 1871: Horseshoe Bay, riders of the steamship Curlew claimed to see a head and long neck of a creature that created quite a wake.

In 1870: Charlotte, Vermont, a full steamboat of passengers spotted Champ

1873: Dresden, New York, another steamboat full spotted Champ and was reported in the local newspaper

1945: the creature was spotted by S.S. Ticonderoga in the middle of the lake

1954: A 14 inch unidentified reptile was trapped in Shelburne Bay.

1977: The Mansi photograph was taken by Sandra Mansi, a tourist from Connecticut, with her Kodak Instamatic, of what she called a dinosaur. This has become the most famous piece of evidence.

1984: Off Appletree Point, Vermont. 86 passengers aboard the Ethan Allen spotted 3 to 5 “humps” which disappeared after about 3 minutes due to the approach of a speed boat.

1993: Button Bay State Park, Ferrisburgh, Vermont. A baby Champ reportedly swam between two women bathers.

1995: Dennis Hall of Champ Quest recorded Champ on video

I also found this:

In July 1883, Sheriff Nathan H. Mooney looked off to the northwest part of New York's Lake Champlain and saw a gigantic water serpent about 50 yards away. The creature, which rose about five feet out of the water, was 25 or 30(10 meters) feet in length and was close enough for the eyewitness to clearly see that there were round white spots inside it's mouth

Joseph W. Zarzynski and Jim Kennard of Rochester Engineering Laboratories have used high-tech sonar to search for Champ, and on June 3, 1979, they took readings indicating the presence of a 10 to 15 foot ( 5meters)long moving object in the waters beneath them. 

The size of Champ changes from smaller to larger etc, which has led people to believe there is a family group living in the lake . If it has been there since the early 1800's then it must be a breeding population or a very long lived creature. Lets hope they turn up some evidence soon.