Yeti Theme Park?

A new Yeti resort in Siberia is to be opened to encourage tourists to find the elusive Abominable Snowman

By The Siberian Times reporter

15 January 2013

The development is in an area of the world that claims to have one of the highest number of sightings of a legendary creature also known as Bigfoot.
The new Yeti Park will be constructed at Sheregesh ski resort, in the stunning Shoria Mountain area of Kemerovo region in southern Siberia. The development comes with a pledge by the region's governor Aman Tuleyev to offer a one million rouble ($33,000) reward to anyone who can catch a Yeti and prove its existence.
'I'll pay a million to anyone who will find the Yeti and bring it to see the me. I'll sit down with him, chat and have a cup of tea', he promised.

 http://siberiantimes.com/weird-and-wonderful/news-and-features/news/a-new-yeti-resort-in-siberia-is-to-be-opened-to-encourage-tourists-to-find-the-elusive-abominable-snowman/

The beast of the Danube aka a monster fish

 The beast of the Danube

By Nick Thorpe BBC News, Ljubljana

 

 The Danube salmon can reach the size of a man and live for 30 years - but its last hunting grounds in the Balkans are being threatened by a rash of dam-building."It's very fast, lean, and elegant. And very beautiful," says Ulrich Eichelmann.
Read rest see photos here:

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31988139

Not all large creatures are cryptids. Fish can grow to enormous size.

Loch Fyne Monster?

Loch Fyne is about 41 miles long and is one of the longest sea lochs in Scotland. The journey from Glasgow takes about 2 hours by car .It is well known for it’s oysters and kippers (smoked herring).

There are tales about a monster in the Loch but from many centuries ago.

A paragraph in the book by Sir Archibald Dunbar ‘Scottish Kings’ (1899) stated that in July 1570  a creature which was the size of a ship’s mast was seen to surface in Loch Fyne. It was described as having“great eyes”. It was said locally that sometime later a huge unidentified carcass was found on the banks of the loch. No further information was available. It is not the supernatural event that is supposed to take place on the Loch, in the waters  close  to Inveraray there is supposed to be a phantom ship which marks the imminent death of a senior member of the Campbell clan. It was last sighted in 1913 when three members of the ship’s crew were seen on  deck. It also moves over land.

So folk tales you may think but then I came across an article in The Glasgow Herald from 17^th August 1949.

Mr P Talbot of Caernarvonshire was on a yachting holiday. His chauffeur was with him according to the article. They saw a great creature in the Loch. It was described as 25-30 feet long with a dorsal hump or fin. It had a long neck about 2 feet out of the water and a white face. He was about an hour away from Ardrishaig sailing in the yacht and the creature was about 80 yards away.

See the original article here:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19490817&id=sG5RAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IjQNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3079,8065065

Basking Sharks are known to enter the Loch and in 1939 it was reported that one 30 feet long startled two fishermen. However that does not explain the long neck and white face of the creature reported. I wonder if there are any other more recent sightings? Please comment if you know of any.

Mystery Amphibian found in Vietnam

Vietnam: Officials try to trace 'mystery amphibian'

By News from Elsewhere...

Officials in Vietnam are on the hunt for a mystery amphibian which was apparently captured and then sold in the north of the country, it's reported.Photos of the metre-long animal were posted on Facebook by a man who says he pulled it from a pond near his home in the Vinh Phuc region, Thanh Nien News website reports. But local environment officials don't know what it is, despite searching records of native species. While it bears some resemblance to a giant salamander, native to neighbouring China, officials say even if it's a related species there is no explanation for how it came to be found hundreds of miles away in northern Vietnam. And tracking it down now could prove tricky - the man who uploaded the images told Thanh Nien News that he has sold it, and won't give any more details.

Read rest and see pic here:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-31748742

Lorna McNessie

Toymaker Mattel creates new doll Lorna McNessie

The toymaker behind Barbie has created a new doll inspired by the Loch Ness Monster myth.Lorna McNessie is one of the latest additions to Mattel's Monster High, a range of characters that also includes zombies, ghosts and werewolves. She is described as the daughter of the Loch Ness Monster and is from Rotland - Monster High's version of Scotland. Loch Ness Bid, an organisation that promotes the loch and surrounding area, has welcomed the doll's creation.

Read rest see photo here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-31535505

Giant Lemurs and seadragon discoveries.

Graveyard of Giant Lemurs Discovered Underwater in Madagascar

Bones found deep inside a cave offer an unprecedented look at the ancient primates, some as big as gorillas.

By Brian Switek for National Geographic Published February 17, 2015

Deep below the surface of a water-filled cave in Madagascar, divers and paleontologists have uncovered a boneyard full of extinct giant lemurs. Hundreds of bones dot the silty bottom of Aven Cave in Tsimanampetsotse National Park. The remains include exotic species such as the extinct elephant bird, a flightless giant similar to an ostrich, but the most numerous bones are from long-lost giant lemurs.The largest of the extinct lemurs were as big as gorillas, and paleontologists sometimes refer to the different types as sloth lemurs, koala lemurs, and monkey lemurs to describe their different lifestyles and the living animals they most closely resemble. Sometime between 2,000 and 500 years ago, all these giants disappeared, possibly at the hands of humans.
Read rest here: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/02/150217-lemur-cave-madagascar-graveyard/
As they disappeared so recently could there be remnants still around? Perhaps mistaken for a Bigfoot?There have been rumours for many years that they still exist.

Meet a newly discovered aquatic species, the ruby seadragon
It might sound like a mythical creature, but researchers have proven that the ruby seadragon is very real indeed.
    by Michael Franco
Read rest see photo here :http://www.cnet.com/news/meet-a-newly-discovered-aquatic-species-the-ruby-seadragon/

Is the Lake Hodges creature still around|?

Lake Hodges creature

There is apparently a monster in lake Hodges .Lake Hodges is in fact a  reservoir. Hodges Lake itself is 6.5 miles long and has 19 miles of shoreline.

The story of the lake creature starts in 1916 when a  Col. Ed Fletcher convinced the Santa Fe Railroad to create a dam to provide water for the new town being built up.The river that runs in to the lake had run through the Del Dios valley for 40,000 years.. Reports of the indigenous people’s warnings about a river creature are dismissed as an attempt to stop the project. In 1919 the construction was finished creating a  dam at  the end of Lake Hodges to create a much larger lake.

In 1921  some local San Diego fishermen report seeing .a large disturbance in the water. Rumours that the Navy may have been conducting underwater tests on early submarines were denied by the  U.S. Navy .

Then in 1923 there were more complaints from local Lake Hodges fishermen reported. In the same year  both the mines in the area report  their heavy rock extraction equipment had been pushed over or partially crushed. The Sheriff wrote a report that said whoever did it appears to have used a boat to get to the  mines and must have wiped away any footprints, as none were seen.

In 1929 the  Escondido Mayor John L. Offitt formally requests that the City of San Diego look into reports of a creature in Lake Hodges.

In 1930 the researchers reported  no conclusive evidence of a creature but although one assistant did report seeing a lizard-like head breaking the surface of the lake .

 In 1931 a boat docked on a small pier was  destroyed. Once more no footprints are found and the police write  in their report that there appears to have been "...great turmoil under the water along the base of the pier, from a boat or underwater vessel...or perhaps a large creature."

In 1932 attempts were made to capture the Lake Hodges monster. A large cage-like trap was made and a small sea lion was secured inside as bait. Cameras held underwater in glass containers . Nothing was captured but the sea lion bait disappeared and one photograph was taken from one of the buoy cameras. The project was cancelled after a public  outcry when it became known that sea lions were being used as bait.

Then in . 1956 highly toxic chemicals were  put in the lake to kill all of the fish. The lake was then restocked with new fish.. An anonymous statement written on City of San Diego letterhead stated that officials were not just attempting to kill the carp  in the lake but also the monster.

The story should have ended there but in 1966 a  family picnic outing turned into a  frightening experience when a large creature surfaced about 150 feet (48 metres) offshore. There were in total seven eye witnesses whose stories all corroborated. So either the lake monster(nicknamed Hodgee) was not in the lake when it was poisoned or was immune to it. Perhaps the dose wasn’t high enough to kill a large creature.

An article from May 15, 2005

Ron Hall knows a lot more about Hodgee than I do. He walks the lake almost every day. He could tell you everything on the Monster History Web site (www.hodgee.com/history.html).   He knows that local Native Americans warned about a river creature in the region before the Hodges Dam was built in 1918. He knows there were many reported sightings after the dam was completed. (The last one was in 1966). There's even a photograph that verifies that the lake at least used to be home to something that can truthfully be described as a "lump." Leonard Nimoy did not rush out to do an "In Search Of" episode. But Hall, 76, still leads Hodgee hunters on lake tours. (The next will be July 9). Hodgee is a hook to lure visitors. Kids love it. "It makes a good story," Hall said. "Anything to get people to come out." The abundant rainfall has perked up the local flora and fauna, and Hall, a volunteer with the San Dieguito River Park, tells the uninitiated what they're seeing. He also goes into Hodges' history and describes the water project that will stabilize the lake level.

"I also talk about the American Indian lore," Hall said. "It's a nice outing."

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050515/news_lz1x15hodges.html

However I found when researching this that there is supposed to a volcanic fault  in the lake bed. So earth tremors  which would explain the wrecked boats, mining equipment  and disturbances in the water but not the head nor humps seen by some eye witnesses.

Being a man made lake has not stopped other lakes being the supposed home of lake monsters and it was originally a smaller lake before the river was dammed so some large fish or creature could have been trapped there.

To find out more :http://www.hodgee.com/  “The LHSRC is a research organization that is dedicated to learning more about the unexplained phenomena related to Lake Hodges. In particular, we are focused on the so-called "Lake Hodges Monster," known locally as "Hodgee."”