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."”

Loch Treig monster?

Loch Treig monsters frighten divers.

Loch Treig is a freshwater loch east of Fort William, in Lochaber, Scotland. There are no roads that run alongside the loch but there is  the West Highland Railway Line which runs along the  eastern bank. Loch Treig is accessible only by a single track road which ends before the dam at the north end. There is a tidal nature to Loch Treig ,the causes of  this tidal effect are the wind acting on the surface of the east west orientated Loch and thermal stratification. Surface oscillations(Seiches), are seen on the loch. The building of the Laggan dam by Balfour Beatty which is 700feet (213metres) long and 180feet (55metres) high, is part of the hydro electric scheme in the area. 1933 Mr B. N. Peach an engineer in charge of the hydro electric  scheme claimed some of the divers working on the project had said there were monsters inn the depths and had left or asked to be moved to other jobs.

There is a long history of kelpies or water horses in the Loch:

The Rev. Dr. Stewart gives the following particulars about water-horses and water-bulls in his "Twixt Ben Nevis and Glencoe." They are thought of "as, upon the whole, of the same shape and form as the more kindly quadrupeds after whom they have been named, but larger, fiercer, and with an amount of `devilment' and cunning about them, of which the latter, fortunately, manifest no trace. They are always fat and sleek, and so full of strength and spirit and life that the neighing of the one and the bellowing of the other frequently awake the mountain echoes to their inmost recesses for miles and miles around. . . Calves and foals are the result of occasional intercourse between these animals and their more civilised domestic congeners, such calves bearing unmistakable proofs of their mixed descent in the unusual size and pendulousness of their ears and the wide aquatic spread of their jet black hoofs; the foals, in their clean limbs, large flashing eyes, red distended nostrils, and fiery spirit. The initiated still pretend to point out cattle with more or less of this questionable blood in them, in almost every drove of pure Highland cows and heifers you like to bring under their notice." The lochs of Llundavra, and Achtriachtan, in Glencoe, were at one time famous for their water-bulls; and Loch Treig for its water-horses, believed to be the fiercest specimens of that breed in the world. If anyone suggested to a Lochaber or Rannoch Highlander that the cleverest horse-tamer could "clap a saddle on one of the demon-steeds of Loch Treig, as he issues in the grey dawn, snorting, from his crystal-paved sub-lacustral stalls, he would answer, with a look of mingled horror and awe, 'Impossible!' The water-horse would tear him into a thousand pieces with his teeth and trample and pound him into pulp with his jet-black, iron-hard, though unshod hoofs!"

source: http://www.electricscotland.com/history/water/chapter11.htm 

The loch being so isolated and the stories around it may have preyed on the men’s  minds. (In 1933 the divers would have all been male.), but if they were not local they were unlikely to have heard the stories. The loch being so isolated and it appears to have little habitation around it , means something could live undisturbed in the water. An intriguing one ,if anyone has any information please post a comment.

The story of the divers is similar to the one about Wastwater in Cumbria  here:

http://cryptozoo-oscity.blogspot.com/search?q=wastwater

The Varberg Fortress moat monster?

Varberg Fortress was built in 1287-1300 by Count Nielsen as protection against a Danish king, who had declared him an outlaw. Varberg is a coastal town south of Gothenburg in Sweden . The fortress has a moat said to be inhabited by a small lake monster. In August 2006 two witnesses claim to have seen a creature emerge from the dark water and devour a duck. The creature is described as brown, fur less and with a 40 cm (about 15- 16 inches) long tail. Other witnesses also reported seeing something.The sightings made headlines in local newspapers and media. The moat is apparently connected with the sea.. The reports were then taken up by the country wide media and lots of people turned up to investigate what was in the moat. The water is murky so visibility is limited. One investigator tried to listen with microphones and divers tried to look for the creature. Nothing conclusive was found but some thought it could have been a seal, a big pike or a big catfish (Silurus glanis) that somehow got into to moat. It may have been placed there or got in by itself through the access to the sea.

I have been unable to find any more reports but it sounds like a seal and large pike are not unknown to take wildfowl if they get the chance. So the probability is a natural explanation and not an unknown creature. If anyone has any information about recent sightings or more information please post a comment.

Size of Nessie's head?

strange Nessie sighting

People know of my interest in cryptozoological things and this was sent to me. It was found in an old library book that had been sold on. It is dated 2/12/92 and looks like it is from
The Inverness Courier or other Scottish northern newspaper.It is strange because most people say Nessie has a small head but this sighting says"A huge round head rose time and again out of the loch-each time revealing a thick dark mass below"and "It had a big black round head which was visible all the time and every 10 meters or so it would rise itself about 4 feet out of the water.Under the head there was a thick dark neck"





I posted this in 2009 hooping someone would have some knowledge of it.Any comments welcome.