Ootsa Lake Creature?

 

An Unknown Creature in Ootsa Lake BC?

Ootsa Lake is part of the Nechako Reservoir system in British Columbia Canada.It is the largest of the original lakes to be part of the reservoir and sometimes it is referred to as the Ootsa Reservoir. In the Pleistocene Era, ice movement  left  grooves and ridges in the landscape forming lakes when the ice melted. Ootsa lake is one of these lakes and is popular for fishing having stocks of large rainbow trout and char. The waters of the lake are said to be cold and deep, some say up to 1000 feet deep(approx 333 metres) .There is a local legend/ story  of a  monster in Ootsa Lake. Several newspapers claim it has been spotted :

Ootsa Lake Monster

By Rebecca Billard - Burns Lake Lakes District News
Published: August 17, 2010 11:00 PM

The last thing Darlene Thompkins expected to see on her holiday was something she referred to as the 'Ootsa Lake monster'.Thompkins who is holidaying in Burns Lake with her family from Edmonton, said she named the mysterious sighting in Ootsa Lake a monster because she didn't know what else to call it.Thompkins and her daughter were wading in the water near the Ootsa Lake spillway last week, while her husband George sat on the shore."A plane flew over and we watched that go by, it looked like the pilot was doing some sort of training exercise, then when we looked back down there was a big wave in the water," she said.Thompkins said the wave struck her as being unusual at the time so she watched the large ripple in the water about eight to 10 metres from where she and her daughter we standing.Thompkins then said she and her daughter saw a head appear out of the water."It looked like a huge snake head ,,, and it was a dark grey colour," she said."I called out to my husband to come and look, but he said to come out of the water and was a little scared. I didn't think about being scared because I was trying to see what it was, I grabbed my video camera and recorded but I was in a hurry and the focus was zoomed in so the footage is blurry," she said.Thompkins then grabbed a camera to take a picture of the creature and snapped a shot."It looks further away in the photo that what it was .... we saw it much closer," she said."We saw it twice, then another one came up beside it and a third one came too," said Thompkins adding that the creatures were very long like a snake."You could see the head while they were swimming along then further back there was another part of it - like a hump .... I can't stop thinking about what we saw and wondering what it was," she added."My uncle said it was probably a sturgeon, but this creature was swimming along with its head out of the water .... right up and out of the water .... and it was really big," she said."I wish I knew what it was, I have heard other people say they have seen something similar ..... these lakes are so big, you would never know what is living in them," she added.
 Source: http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_north/lakesdistrictnews/news/100808924.html


When the lake was flooded lots of trees were covered by water. There is, according to the internet ,some sort of logging operation under way to retrieve the trees for commercial use. So could it just have been a log that surfaced? A dark grey head makes me think seal but I have no idea if seals would be found in those lakes. Perhaps some one else knows and can leave a comment. Again it is noted it is a glacial lake ,similar to many other lakes that have sightings. If they are not unknown creatures then something similar must happen at all these lakes to produce the effect of a  monster in the water. Intriguing isn’t it?

Honolulu Sea Serpent 1877

 Report of sea serpent Sighting FEBRUARY 11, 1877

. The back page has an article headed: "The Latest Sea-Serpent" "A Story Which Comes From Honolulu" "A Monster Which Attacks a Brig and Is Shot At"

I am not sure how long this link will be around so read it fast!

https://www.rarenewspapers.com/view/613248?imagelist=1

Monsters?

 

who are the monsters?

Cryptids are often referred to as monsters, as in The Loch Ness Monster , The Fouke Monster and so on.

I for one would love to see  that Nessie has been found. But then would I? What would happen if Nessie or any other creature were found?

Well it could be kept secret I suppose (conspiracy theorists in the past have claimed that governments know the creatures exist but it has been covered up).

More likely though a media circus would ensue. The poor creature would be placed on display in some special zoo or facility . Any of it's fellows would no  doubt  similarly be hunted ,captured and displayed. It would  make a great deal of money for the owner of the facility.

(My first thought would be 'Has no one seen King Kong?' Large creatures are notoriously difficult to keep contained.)This to me would make us ,the humans, the monsters. To degrade a creature in this manner ,make it a show or a display, takes away its freedom  and its rights.

The answer would be to see it is protected by law and its habitat is kept from development. A camera feed could be set up so people could catch glimpses of it as it went about it's daily life but visitors would be banned.

 A cryptid is a wonder, not a monster and it deserves to be treated with respect. Should any be found I hope it is remembered that it is a living thing not an exhibit .

If someone does manage to clone a mammoth or any other extinct species, it should also be entitled   to the same. A woolly mammoth does not belong in this era of time and should be placed in a habitat as near to its original as possible and allowed to live out it's allotted span in peace.

The so called monsters created by scientists recently such as goats crossed with spider DNA and huge ants , are not monsters either. The monsters are those that made them. They did not ask to be made freaks of nature but no one treated them with the respect they deserved , and said do not to tamper with them.

I truly hope that if such irrefutable evidence be found of a cryptid, that we have the sense to leave it alone and maybe just set up cameras for those who insist on seeing for themselves. Humans will always be the monsters until they treat creatures with respect.

The Genuine Nessie ?

 

Loch Ness Monster 'evidence' caught on camera but spotters just miss the beast

Warren Speed and Jamie Huntley were making a documentary about Nessie and were amazed when they spotted the beast, but it disappeared again before they could focus their camera

The Loch Ness Monster was spotted by a film crew making a documentary about the beast - but it disappeared before they could focus their camera.

Warren Speed and Jamie Huntley said they saw Nessie with their own eyes and described it as being around five metres in length with having a whale-like hump.

Read rest here:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/loch-ness-monster-evidence-caught-26636707

An earlier claim of the first sighting of the year on webcam turned out to be two paddle boarders. Is this really a monster sighting this time…I hope so.

 

UK has a giant spider

 The Raft Spider is as large as the palm of a  human hand:

https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/local-news/huge-fish-eating-spider-can-23509889

Almost extinct but now making a comeback.

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 .

https://kion546.com/cnn-regional/2022/03/24/man-breaks-state-record-catches-140-pound-paddlefish-from-lake-of-the-ozarks/

 

The Gowrow - alligator or dragon?

 

Thursday, 19 November 2009

The Gowrow - alligator or dragon?

Was there a dragon living in Arkansas?

The Gowrow, is said to be a 20-ft long lizard-type monster with tusks, living along rocky ledges and in caves in the Ozarks The Ozark Native American Mythology, described it as a huge, dragon-like monster with tusks. In the 1880s, the gowrow was blamed for the terrorizing rural areas. Fred Allsopp, who edited the Arkansas Gazette was said to have published many stories about it.

In 1897, William Miller supposedly killed a gowrow, but no body was reported to have been found. One story said that when he killed the Gowrow the carcass was lost in shipment to the Smithsonian Institute.

There are a couple of versions of what happened around 1935 when the Gowrow was said to be inhabiting a deep cave in Boone County.:

Sometime prior to 1935, near the village of Self in Boone County, a gowrow allegedly inhabited the Devil's Hole, a deep cave who's mouth opened on the estate of E.J. Rhodes. One day, after hearing a commotion emanating from the Devil’s Hole's underground recesses, Rhodes decided to investigate by lowering himself into its shaft and descending via rope to a ledge 200 feet beneath the opening. Below this point the shaft was too narrow to permit further descent, so Rhodes failed to satisfy his curiosity - which was probably just as well. When some men lowered a flatiron down to the same level that Rhodes had reached, a loud angry hissing noise was plainly heard. They heard it again when they repeated the procedure, this time using a large stone attached to the rope. Moreover, when they drew the rope back up they discovered that the stone was gone. The section of the rope holding it had been completely bitten through!

From Dr Karl P.N. Shuker's book "From Flying Toads to Snakes With Wings" pages 87-88.

There are limestone caves in the area, possibly linked to the Mystic Cave system. Yet an intriguing incident took place during the Nineteenth Century at Devil's Hole Cave, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) southwest of Yellville. "Deciding to find out what was causing all the commotion down in the cave. E.J. Rhodes, owner of the land containing its (the cave's) mouth, descended by rope to a ledge 200 feet below ground. The shaft was too tight to penetrate farther." "Later, several men probed the cave with a long rope. They tired a flatiron on it and let it down into the hole. At 200 feet, the iron struck something--evidently the ledge discovered earlier by Rhodes. A vicious hissing rose out of the hole, as if from some large, angry animal." "The men pulled up the rope and found that the handle of the iron had been bent, and was even thought by some to show teeth marks. A large stone was then lowered with the rope. Again the angry sibilance, and when the rope was drawn up, the stone was gone, and the rope was neatly bitten off." "Local people call the Devil's Hole Cave entity the Gowrow and believe it to be a gigantic, man-eating lizard. Stories of it have circulated since the turn of the century," i,e, 1900.

From : Weird America by Jim Brandon, E.P. Dutton Books, New York, N.Y. 1978, page 15)

A Mr V. Randolf, was said to have seen the Gowrow in the Ozark Mountains in 1951.I could find nothing more about this sighting though.

So was the Gowrow a dragon or as many people believe an alligator? I don’t know if alligator s lived in the area at one time but it may have escaped from a travelling circus or zoo. It must have lived for quite a long time though from the 1800’s to 1935. An intriguing question , if it was an alligator, how did it get there and if it wasn’t what did bite through the rope?